Unbent, Unbound, and Unbroken
by Bluedragon312
Summary: After an initial betrayal by his friends, Harry discovers that the Dursleys aren't all that remains of his family. Now, he must contend with Voldemort, his own treacherous uncle and a potentially more fearsome enemy and ally.
1. Chapter 1

Unbent, Unbound and Unbroken

Disclaimer: Don't Own Harry Potter

A/N: Don't give me too much grief about the way I treat Hermione at first in this story. She may have been one of Harry's best friends, but her overall personality irks me. She's the type of character that I loved to hate ( teacher's pet/rule stickler) when I was in school and still do, even in college, so forgive me a little. You can be smart, but you don't have to be obnoxious about it. And there is an expression " Rules are meant to be broken" that Canon Hermione just doesn't seem to understand unless absolutely forced to acknowledge. Even though Harry/Hermione is my favorite pairing to read ( hypocrite yes?).

* * *

><p>Prologue: Frozen Heart<p>

_"Everything grows cold_

_Stillness like a frozen lake_

_There will be no thaw" _

_Japanese Death Poem_

Harry Potter sat uneasily on his bed, with his trunk packed. He was eagerly awaiting the arrival of Albus Dumbledore to pick him up, and preferably take him to the Burrow to be with his friends. It hadn't been an easy few weeks to say the least. The death of his godfather, Sirius Black was fresh on his mind everywhere he went. Every time he went to sleep.

Harry ran his fingers through his raven black hair. _I wonder how Ron and Hermione are doing? Especially Hermione, that curse was pretty evil looking._ Harry thought with a grimace. His friends hadn't written to him since the end of school. Harry imagined that Hermione had a pass, but Ron had been cleared just before school had let out. This bugged him.

Just then, he saw a streetlight flicker out. His mind soared, _Dumbledore!_ Harry hurriedly ran out, getting a nice yell from his Uncle, " I thought that freaky old guy was supposed to pick you up by now, boy!"

Harry ignored him, and sat down in the living room. Shortly, Aunt Petunia shouted, " The streetlights outside are all out!"

Then came a soft knock on the door. Harry made sure that he was the one to answer. In the doorway, wearing truly cosmic robes that had dancing stars on them, was Albus Dumbledore. His soft blue eyes alight with twinkling light. He smiled softly, " Good evening, Harry, Mr. Dursley, Mrs. Dursley. I have come to…ah… alleviate the stress of your cousin from you. I am also here to discuss Harry's future. May I come in please?"

Vernon Dursley didn't look pleased, understatement, but didn't dare to defy Dumbledore. He'd heard Harry spout off enough drivel about the old man to know this was a man who truly exemplified the saying, " Meddle not in the Affairs of Wizards, for they are subtle and quick to anger."

Dumbledore surveyed the living room for a few minutes, before taking a seat in Uncle Vernon's favorite recliner. He looked at Harry, " Is your trunk packed?"

Harry nodded. Dumbledore pulled out his wand, and gave it a whirl. Harry heard the wood creak as the trunk upstairs lifted off the wood and disappeared. Harry asked, " Where is it?"

Dumbledore frowned, " I'm sorry Harry, but I cannot tell you that right now. We must wait until after the unsavory business with your aunt and uncle is concluded."

The tone in his voice told Harry that something was wrong. That he probably wasn't going to the Burrow. He began to worry that it had been attacked…

Like he was reading his mind, probably via Legillimency, Dumbledore spoke up, " You are correct, Harry. You will not be returning to the Burrow this year. No, there has not been an attack. If anything, this is worse, and I almost would have preferred they had died in noble battle than what has actually happened…"

Harry was about to ask, but Dumbledore suddenly changed the subject, " Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, sixteen years ago, I left Harry on your doorstep with the hope that you would raise him as one of your own. Instead, he was not. He has suffered more by your hands than by the hands of the Dark Lord. This will one day be atoned for. But it is not the bearing of mortal men to levy judgment on the wicked. Instead, I am here to inform you that come this day, July 31st, of next year, Harry Potter will come of age in the Wizarding world, and will no longer be required to live in this house."

Petunia muttered, " No."

Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, " No what?"

" Dudley will be eighteen in two years. He's older than Harry."

Dumbledore sighed, " Alas, in the Wizarding World, we come of age at seventeen, not eighteen. Though I do think that the extra year might do some wizards and witches some good, that isn't the point. The main point is, is that I am gravely disappointed in your treatment of Harry over the years. They are the absolute opposite of what I had hoped. I should have listened to my Deputy Headmistress, and simply burned this place to the ground."

The venom in Dumbledore's words surprised Harry. Normally, Dumbledore angry was enough to scare the hell out of anyone, but Harry felt an odd satisfaction at the Headmaster's words. Dumbledore continued, " Nonetheless, I am giving you the chance to continue your life without the worry of ever seeing Harry again. It has come to my attention that the blood wards that Harry was sent here to charge for both his and your protection, have failed. I have no choice but to remove him now. If you want, I can put you all under intense obliviation, so that you may never remember having Harry here."

Harry wasn't surprised at all that his Aunt and Uncle nodded their consent to being Obliviated. But Dudley surprised him, " I will not be obliviated, whatever that is. While I've never been nice to Harry, I owe him my life, and apparently my soul. To that end, I would offer to repay this debt."

Dumbledore explained, " It appears, that you are a very weak wizard in your own right, Dudley. Weak enough to be a squib. Just enough of a trace to set off Ministry alarms at your birth, but nothing more. I'm guessing you figured out what Dementors were?"

" I stole one of Harry's books and looked them up."

Harry's face flushed in anger, but held himself in check. Dumbledore smiled, " So this isn't a complete din of buffoonery. I am slightly pleased at that. I will see what I can do about your offer. A muggle by himself may not do much, but with the proper equipment, he may go far in the Wizarding world."

Dumbledore turned to Harry, " Are we ready?"

" Yes."

Dumbledore smiled, " Now, just give me a few moments to obliterate your aunt and uncle's memories, and we can get this show on the road."

Several moments later, they left. Dumbledore grabbed Harry's arm, " Have you ever Apparated before?"

Harry shook his head. Dumbledore smiled, " Steel yourself. It can be….riveting…the first time."

Riveting was not how Harry would have described it. Downright awful, like he was being squeezed through a tiny tube is more like it. Harry fell to his knees, gasping for air. Dumbledore smiled, " I warned you."

Harry coughed, and stood up. They were in front of what looked like a large Muggle Mansion. He asked, " Sir? Why are we here?"

Dumbledore smiled serenely, " You will find out in a moment, Harry."

Dumbledore knocked, and then gently opened the door. The inside was a mess. But a strangely cushy looking chair caught Harry's attention. He asked, " Seems like this place was attacked, but something doesn't seem right. Like this was staged. We looking for someone?"

Dumbledore saw Harry looking at the chair, " Very astute Harry. I think, we may have already found him."

Dumbledore bent over, and started poking the chair with his wand. Eventually, a walrus of a man melted out, choking, " Lord Albus! Watch where you're poking that thing would you?"

The man laid eyes on Harry, " Oh, so this is your master plan eh? Well, the answer is still no. I won't come back."

Dumbledore ignored the man, " Harry, this is an old associate of mine named Horace Slughorn. He used to teach at Hogwarts for several years, until he felt that the situation was becoming too hot for him, as it said in his letter of resignation."

Slughorn scowled, " And I stand by what I said! What is this, the twentieth straight year of a different DADA teacher? How many have died now under your watch?"

Dumbledore frowned, " Frankly, I don't count Crouch, Quirrel, and Umbridge. So actually none. Your point is?"

Slughorn was flustered, " My point is, is that that school of yours is too dangerous!"

Harry spoke up, " You speak as though you would know from experience? It can't be any more dangerous than trying to pretend to be a chair. If I almost figured it out within minutes of walking through the door, than what makes you think it would work on Death Eaters?"

Slughorn chuckled, " Well, the academic stories I've heard of you aren't exactly flattering, but I've heard that you do possess some cunning. More than the average Death Eater, I might say."

Harry scowled, " That isn't saying much. The Death Eater Intelligence Quotient is in negative numbers."

Dumbledore laughed softly. Slughorn glared, " I taught most of those Death Eaters you know."

" Then I don't know why we are here interviewing you for whatever job the Headmaster wants you for. You clearly don't look like a DADA teacher, and that's the only opening I can think of unless he finally fired Snape after all these years."

Dumbledore dispelled such a notion, " Professor Snape, Harry."

Harry scowled, his lifelong dream thwarted again. Slughorn seemed frustrated, " I'm a little surprised that Lily's son would speak so ill of me. I was her teacher you know. "

Harry's scowl deepened, " Then you would also know that the only thing I have to remember about my parents are Dementor nightmares and a small collection of pictures. I think the man has made up his mind, Professor."

Slughorn relented, " Fine, fine. I'll do it. Just, give me a little time to put some affairs in order. I expect my old office to be ready to go?"

" As soon as we can get its current occupant out, yes."

Dumbledore smiled, " Glad we could hammer that out. Come now Harry, there is much ado about nothing right now, and we must see to it."

Dumbledore led Harry out, and then Side-Apparated him out to a massive house he had never seen before. Dumbledore noticed Harry looking at it with awe, " Welcome to Potter Manor, Lord Potter. Let us enter shall we?"

Harry pressed his hand onto the door of manor. There was a large flash of light, and Harry heard Dumbledore muttering, " Hmm, I seem to recall coming here, but where exactly is here?"

Harry recognized the Fidelus Charm, and wrote, " Potter Manor is located ten miles north of Godric's Hollow,", based off a small road sign he saw not far away from the Manor. He handed it to Dumbledore, who smiled, " Now I remember. Let us go in shall we?"

With that, Harry entered into the home that his father should have been living in at the time of his death. The interior of the house was decorated with the Gryffindor colors, as could be expected of House Potter. But oddly, the Potter family crest was a large emerald P surrounded by silver lightning bolts. A house elf appeared, " Master Potter! How mays we serves you?"

" We? How many are here?"

The elf jumped up and down excitedly, " Roughly fifty, milord! My name is Atari, and my family has served yours for generations!"

Harry laughed, " Hermione's going to flip out when she finds out I have fifty house elves."

Dumbledore looked rather nervous and grim at the same time, " Ah, umm, about that Harry. Ms. Granger will not be finding out about your house elves. Like I have said, there is much ado about nothing here, though a hurt heart can destroy many things…."

Harry felt a sense of foreboding, " Atari, is there something to drink here?"

The house elf beamed, " Why yes! We has fifty year old, aged to perfection, red wine if Lord Potter be wanting that?"

Dumbledore nodded, so Harry answered, " Bring a bottle of the best and two glasses. I fear we may be needing them."

Dumbledore frowned, " Yes, we should continue this inside I think. That way, the wards will go back up."

They walked inside. Harry was lost at first, but he found a small study on the first floor that was comfortably furnished. Dumbledore sat down on the sofa, and, to Harry's surprise, stretched his legs out and laid down on the sofa. That was when Harry noticed the shriveled black hand. He made note to ask of it later.

Dumbledore sighed heavily, " It appears that your actions at the DOM have had a lasting, rather negative effect, on those who you would call your friends."

Harry's lip quivered slightly. He knew this wasn't going be nice. Dumbledore continued, " Well, the wards around your house, outside of the bloodwards that is, redirected your friends' mail to me. It is good that they did. All ten letters sent from Hermione Granger or any of the Weasleys, contained some sort of booby trap."

Harry clenched his fist in anger, but held on to some hope, " Is it possible that the letters were just intercepted?"

Dumbledore's frown grew sorrowful, " I am afraid not. My new instruments record the complete paths of the Owls going to your old house. It was a straight and true path. By the way, thank you for destroying my instruments at the end of last year. Gave me the opportunity to buy some new, improved ones."

Harry contemplated Dumbledore's words. The angrier he got, the colder the temperature in the room got. In fact, one of the House Elves started a fire in the fireplace. The fire began to turn blue. Dumbledore shivered, " Calm down Harry. I know this is a lot to put on you, but you must face the music, as they say. Your friends have betrayed you. This is irrefutable, and I believe that you should be receiving a Gringotts letter shortly about a restraining order being filed."

" RESTRAINING ORDER?"

" Please lower your voice Harry. I am an old man you know. "

Harry glared at Dumbledore, " I'm sorry, Professor, but this is the last in a multitude of straws! I won't stand for this! Ingrates! Ungrateful bastards! Filthy mud…."

Dumbledore pulled his wand on Harry, and cast a small calming spell on him. Dumbledore smiled, " Like to try again?"

Harry breathed in heavily, " Y-Yes. Thank you, Professor. Had I been here by myself, I probably would have done something stupid like Floo over to see what the heck is going on here!"

Dumbledore smiled softly, " I know what anger feels like, and given the loss of Sirius, this cannot be good on your mind. For that very purpose, I shall be staying here to teach you Occlumency up until a few days before school starts. Minerva can handle everything else. Trust me, Severus and I had some words about what happened last year."

" Good."

The discussion was interrupted by two letters appearing. Both were from Gringotts. He opened the largest one first.

" _Dear Mr. Potter,_

_ We at Gringotts have received word of a restraining order filed by a series of person with whom you have been associated with. We regret to inform you, that until you appear in person to argue your position on the matter, we have been forced to grant the order. From this day forth, unless repealed, you may not travel within one hundred feet of the following persons with knowledge of their positions and the intent to speak with them:_

_1 Ronald Billius Weasley_

_2 Ginevra Molly Weasley_

_3. Hermione Jane Granger_

_4. Neville Hadrada Longbottom_

_5. Luna Selene Lovegood_

_6. Bill Weasley_

_7 Fleur Delacour ( soon to be Weasley nee Delacour)_

_8. Molly Weasley nee Prewitt_

_9. Charles Weasley_

_10. Frederick Weasley_

_11 George Weasley._

_ As a result you are also banned from the following premises until further notice:_

_1 Weasley Wizarding Wheezes_

_2 The Burrow_

_3 Number 21 Steel Magnolia Drive_

_ We warn that if you should violate these terms, you shall be treated to extreme pain, and an arrest warrant shall immediately be written. A percentage (20%) of your vaults shall also be seized. As such, we ask that you not act upon any desire for vengeance until after the Reading of the Will of Sirius Black, which is in three days. On that day, these Orders shall be granted a Grace period to allow for your travel. _

_ Good day to you, and May your Gold ever grow!_

_ Exemplar, Gringotts Director of Judicial Matters"_

Harry was now seething with anger. Dumbledore smiled, " Don't worry Harry. The enemy of my enemy is my friend, and I think that the Weasleys just made a big set of enemies. I assure you, when I broke this to the other teachers, they were quite….feisty in their attempts to get after the Weasleys and the others mentioned on this."

Harry sighed heavily. He re-read the list, and Dumbledore notice a tear falling down the cheek of the boy. It turned to ice as soon as it fell from his face. Harry whispered, " Even Luna and Neville! What were they thinking?"

Dumbledore quickly intervened, " We have reason to believe that Augusta Longbottom is under the Imperious Curse, so I've taken steps to remove Neville from her care. As for Ms. Lovegood, her family has always been a strange one. And you know that's saying something coming from a nutcase like me. But bear in mind, that this may or may not be their fault."

Harry spat out, " Guilty until proven innocent."

Dumbledore frowned. He was worried this might happen. Harry was not exactly known for his level temper ( as Dumbledore found out), and this might force him to recede into the cold shell that Tom Riddle had been when he had arrived at Hogwarts. This might not end well.

Harry chuckled softly, " Well, I'm guessing I should go to be soon shouldn't I ?"

Dumbledore glittered a little, " Yes you should. Might give yourself some time to calm down prior to having to face your fears in a couple of days."

4-53-45-3-7-3-7-8-8-8-68-68-6-867-867-8-78-5678-7-867-8-78-7-85-78-679-59-9-76-9-75-6798-

( Three Days Later…)

Since the goblins hadn't provided him a Portkey, which according to Dumbledore, they should have, Harry ended up having to make gratuitous use of his Grace Period. Considering that WWW was placed at the absolute most inopportune place ( directly in the middle of Main Street), he was pretty much guaranteed to have to waltz by.

He noticed a tingling sensation as he walked by. He also noticed that he had to struggle to look at the building, and that if he tried to stop, than his legs would get wobbly. He did hear a couple of his old classmates whispering some antagonistic remarks at him, but public opinion is so overrated these days.

When he entered Gringotts, several guards immediately walked up, and grabbed his arms. They practically carried him into the Director's office, as notated by a sign outside of his door. Harry found himself looking at the most fearsome goblin he had ever seen.

Director Ragnok was the tallest, burliest, and most intelligent of all the goblins in Gringotts. He was almost as tall as the average human at age twelve, and he carried four longswords on his back. His piercing eyes seemed to look right into Harry's soul. Ragnok sneered, " So, Lord Potter. Do you know why we are here?"

Harry nodded his head, " I believe your letter said this was about the restraining orders my former friends filed on me?"

Ragnok narrowed his eyes in scrutiny, " A smart human who actually reads our letters. Such a nice change. Yes, that is why we are here. As you know, the penalty for violating such an order is quite steep. Mr. Ronald Weasley stated that he didn't feel safe in your presence, that you were prone to hallucinations. Explanation?"

" I have never suffered from hallucinations. For the most part, I see the truth. My ability to see what Voldemort is planning has save lives. Including Mr. Weasley's father's."

Ragnok scratched a name off the list, " Good. Ms. Lovegood says that your sight is false, and that you should not be allowed to lead men to battle. Answer?"

" Luna never gave me any indication that she thought this way. After all, she did VOLUNTEER for the operation."

Ragnok nodded, scratching another name off, " It has been determined that Mr. Longbottom's request is invalid, due to his grandmother being under the Imperious. Now, Ms. Weasley states that she feels uncomfortable in your presence, because of your connection to the Dark Lord. Answer?"

" The truth will always set you free. But it is up to you to see the truth."

Ragnok smiled slightly, " Wise. Ms. Weasley is refuted. Ms. Granger says that she is insecure in your presence, because of reasons she would not state. We believe though, that it is because of the after effects of that curse she took. Response?"

" I can't answer for that which I don't know, now can I ? But I feel this may call for a proper introduction I might say."

Ragnok scratched the remaining names off, " The others were simply tagalongs, so we will not overview their statements. The orders are rescinded. Lord Potter has done nothing wrong. Now, onto another matter. You are Lord Potter, but that does not mean that everything is as it seems. It appears you have a cousin?"

" Dudley?"

Ragnok sneered, " Not the Muggle. We don't care about him. Seems that your father had a younger brother who once challenged him to a duel over the lordship of House Potter. He won, but never filed the paperwork for the transition. Thus, you are still Lord Potter. He has a daughter named Annalisa Potter. She is slightly older than you by about a month. She was attending Durmstrang, but will be attending Hogwarts for the rest of her schooling career."

_Something's fishy about that._ Harry thought as he narrowed his eyes. Ragnok appeared to know what he was thinking, " Her side of the family is known for its slightly darker tones than yours. The Potter Main Line is well known for being as pure as windblown snow, but the off lines aren't so pure."

Harry said, " I just hope she isn't a Death Eater."

Ragnok frowned, " It is certainly possible, but we don't think that side has fallen so far. Plus, the Dark Lord would be hard pressed to trust someone with the last name Potter."

" Good points. But I also thought that my best friends were Ronald Weasley and Hermione Granger up until a few days ago when I received the letter. Anything is possible in this senseless Wizard World we live in."

Ragnok chuckled, " Someone who shares Goblin opinion! Anyway, let us continue on to the Black Will reading. Let us proceed to the Inheritance Room shall we?"

Harry nodded. Ragnok ordered some guards to guide Harry to the Room. No sooner did Harry walk in, did he see a collection the people he DIDN'T want to see right now. Ron and his family sat near the back. Malfoy and his mother sat at the front. Just about the only people he was happy to see were Lupin, Dumbledore, and Tonks.

Harry took a seat near the front, away from Malfoy, but still near the Will Reader. An ancient goblin walked in. He stepped up to the podium, and cleared his throat.

" My name is Silverspear. I will read the Will of Sirius Black, as dictated on July 5th, 1994."

Harry anticipated a rather anti-climatic Will, with everyone getting what they came for. The first surprise was with Narcissa Malfoy. With her marriage annulled, she was now a Black again. Thus, Malfoy was removed from contention for Lord Black's title. Then came Lupin. As was predictable, he received a large sum and a house from Sirius. Sirius ended up playing some jokes on the Weasleys, like leaving them fake houses and leprechaun gold.

Harry received the most out of everyone. The goblins performed an inheritance test to determine whether or not he was eligible to become Lord Black, and with his descent from Dorea Black from his father, he was determined to be eligible. Malfoy was not able to make a challenge, because that part of his family became worthless after Sirius ordered his mother's marriage annulled.

Given the structure of the Will, Harry suddenly had a new respect for Sirius. He had made his will to set up for Harry to be the last man standing amongst those who would try to claim House Black. Thus, Harry became Lord Black. This drew an angry comment from Ron, " Git receives everything."

Harry just chuckled at Ron's remark. After the Will reading, a three hour affair, Harry and Dumbledore were called to a different part of Gringotts, where they were met once again, by Director Ragnok. " Lord Potter, I apologize for my actions earlier, as well as my brusque tone. But given the circumstances, we had to make sure we put on a good face. After all, several Weasley family members work here at Gringotts or are here on frequent occasions, so we had to be careful to mask our suspicions. We believe that Lord Potter's Uncle, Henry Potter, may have bribed his friends. We are currently performing an investigation into the claims that were put forth by Mr. Longbottom. But we haven't come up with anything yet."

Dumbledore asked, " That cannot be all you have found. If so, then why am I here?"

Ragnok immediately replied, " You were Lord Potter's guardian. Normally, we would seek financial restitution in his name for the abuse he suffered whilst at the hands of his Aunt and Uncle. But since House Dumbledore is a vassal of House Potter, this cannot be done."

Harry asked, " Vassal?"

" Basically means that they are an independent house, but have to act according to the actions of House Potter. They have to pay a small tribute every year to House Potter as well. I think Alessandro Dumbledore lost a duel to Byron Potter is how this came to be. Either way, this one time it will slide. Lord Dumbledore, are you aware of Lord Potter's abilities as an Ice Mage?"

Dumbledore shook his head, " No I am not. I am, however, aware of a modified formula of the Elements, stating there to be ten elements."

Ragnok nodded, "Yes, then you would know that Ice falls under the Dark Cycle correct?"

Dumbledore nodded. Ragnok continued, " Thus, the practice of elemental magic in general was outlawed by the Ministry, because it cannot be tracked."

Harry scowled, " They outlawed it, because of the Restriction of Underage Sorcery. They didn't want muggleborns to be able to practice any type of magic."

" Well observed. If you practice in secret, this magic will become a powerful weapon for you to use against the Dark Lord. Now, the final matter we must attend to is Narcissa Black. She is now, by all intents and purposes, your legal advisor, servant and politics expert. Until you allow her to remarry, she will not be able to defy your orders, or try to harm you in any way."

Harry smirked, " Good, because I believe her to be a Death Eater."

Dumbledore praised Harry, " Taking after Mad-Eye now are we?"

Harry looked a tad smug, " Did a little research after I received the letters. Potter Library has all kinds of family trees, and they are about as accurate as it gets for Pureblood Trees. As you know, people change them all the time, so it's hard to get a good reading."

Ragnok nodded, " He, is unfortunately right. The only way to ascertain completely accurate results is a blood challenge, which we are only allowed to administer under certain circumstances."

Ragnok bowed, " Well, good day milords. The bank must go ever on. May your fortunes grow larger, the both of you."

With that, Harry and Dumbledore left the bank of Gringotts.

435-346-2-7-8-82-99-9-0-0-0-8-6-544-4-6-6-9-9-88-6-5-4-3-3-343-5-67-7-65-76-57-6

( Potter Manor Ten days later…)

" Harry, I don't know if it's a good idea for you to put Narcissa in the same house as you. After all, you do have three other houses."

Harry glared, " As safe as waking up in the morning to Def Leopard blaring on the radio. Ever heard the expression, ' Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer?' Since I don't really have any friends left, what better way of keeping an eye on Death Eater activity? Either way, she can't hurt me because of her bond to me as a servant. Such that Sirius stated in his Will."

Dumbledore sighed, " Hey I like Def Leopard ok? Anyway, Harry, there are ways around things like that you know. I received a letter today, I have to return to Hogwarts to resolve an altercation of some sort, so I want you to keep practicing your Occlumency while I'm gone, alright?"

Harry shrugged, " Sure thing. Professor? You aren't going to like formally announce me as your apprentice or anything like that are you? You know how much I hate the public eye."

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled brighter briefly, " What in the world makes you think I would do something like that?"

" Hmm, I don't know…."

Dumbledore smiled slyly as he grabbed some Floo Powder, and zoomed away. Harry let out another sigh. He'd gathered some books about elementalism, and quickly found out that the Dark Cycle elements of Darkness, Lightning, Ice, Shadow, and Pestilence were a lot harder to find than the Light Cycle of Fire, Earth, Wind, Water, and Light. Thus far, the only things he had found out were how to freeze water ( of which there was just a simple ordinary spell already for), chill the air ( again ordinary spell already), form an ice spear, and how to cause it to snow.

Harry chuckled at the last spell. Looking out the window, it was snowing at Potter Manor, despite the fact that it was the middle of August and it was supposed to be in the upper eighties. It was a kind of global AOE spell that he could cast over long distances. Kind of like Apparation, all he had to do was know and envision what the place would look like. So theoretically he could make it snow in Egypt. That doesn't mean it would actually work.

Being in Potter Manor also meant that he could practice his ordinary spells with impunity from the annoying bitch that was Mafalda Hopkirk. Dumbledore explained that the Restriction on Underage Sorcery was older than he was, and had been enacted because a Muggleborn had gone on a killing spree with magic. So while it certainly had good purpose, that didn't make it any less annoying. Or any less prejudiced, because up until about one hundred years ago, Muggle Hunting was a Legal sport in most countries. Now it was only legal in Romania, specifically, Transylvania, but that was because of all the Vampires. If you were stupid enough to go up there during the night, than you probably deserved to fall victim to the hundreds of Vampires that reside there.

Harry brought his mind back on topic. He frowned endlessly over how he had received a letter from the Ministry threatening his expulsion for a simple levitation charm, that he hadn't even cast. It was insulting that people who might actually need the practice, like Harry, couldn't. But people who could care less, like Ron, could. Based on what Harry knew of the Weasleys though, Molly didn't let them practice during the summer. Only Fred and George took active advantage of it, and performed in the seclusion of their room.

Harry noticed that a Barn Owl was sitting on his windowsill, with a letter in its beak. Harry got up, scratched the owl's wing, and took the letter. Given that it remained on the window, he guessed the sender wanted a reply. He slit the letter open with a small knife on his desk.

"_Dear Harry,_

_ Harry, I'm sorry over what happened with Gringotts. My grandmother got a little paranoid when I got back from school, and she makes some rash decisions when she gets emotional. Thus she ended up in a bad situation, but it is fixed now. Anyway, I would like to know if you'd want to come over for a day or two. My grandmother's hosting the Ministry's Summer Ball. Strange I know, but I got a feeling you'd like to come to it. So how about it? I know you don't like the public eye, but think about it. No Weasleys are going to be here. Guaranteed, unless someone forces them to come. The Ball's is on the last weekend before school starts, so it'll be the 30th of August. _

_ Neville Hadrada Longbottom_

_ P.S Do try to treat the girls you meet here better than Parvati. She's still a little sore about how you treated her at the Yule Ball. I know the whole ' I didn't get to come with the girl I wanted to' routine, but still. You were a royal ass to her. You may as well have not even come."_

__P.S.S]: The Owl's name is Ymir. She likes to be scratched on the wings, and doesn't like Owl treats. She prefers red meat, raw if you have it._  
><em>

Harry chuckled softly, and decided he needed a little bit of fun. So he penned an acceptance letter. He gave the owl a small cut of steak from his storage, and then gave her his letter. He watched as the owl flew off into the moonlight.

Just then, Dumbledore came bustling in through the Floo, " Harry! Catch!"

Harry caught the wand that was thrown at him. He looked at it. It was made of cedar, and was roughly twelve inches. Dumbledore yelled, " That wand doesn't have a Trace on it, so you can use it on this mission. Ready for your first Order Mission?"

Harry smirked, " What makes you think otherwise?"

Dumbledore smiled, " Good, now. With me, we shall be meeting at Grimmauld Place, which I must thank you for letting us continue to use as a HQ. Then we shall deploy. Severus gave us a small heads up on a DE raid on the Greengrass Manor. Apparently, the Death Eaters don't appreciate the fact that Damian considers himself neutral."

Harry frowned, " Yeah, Voldemort doesn't take kindly to those who don't take sides. We should move."

Harry stepped into the Floo, and with a shout of Grimmauld Place Number 12, he ended up skipping to a stop on the couch in front of the fireplace. He heard Tonks mutter, " I swear Harry, I never thought someone could be worse than I am in the Floo, but you just took the cake."

Harry glared at the Auror. She was going with purple hair today. Moody growled, " Get Potter into the Kitchen now. We are about to get debriefed."

Dumbledore nodded, and guided Harry into the Kitchen. It had been magically enlarged to contain the large amount of people within. Snape had the dance floor. Sneering at Harry, he began his briefing.

" The Dark Lord just announced that he's sending his Death Eaters out in force to Greengrass Manor. It is of my knowledge, that today, Damien is having a dinner party with the Davis', and the families of several of Daphne's potential suitors. The death toll could be catastrophic if we don't hurry Albus."

Dumbledore nodded, " Do we have an exact time?"

" Exactly midnight."

Harry looked at his watch, " That gives us three minutes. Let's hope they aren't early."

Snape curled his lips, " Who said you were coming, Potter?"

Dumbledore intervened, " Harry will be acting as my apprentice, and is coming for his first Trial By Fire. Plus, with Kingsley and some others occupied at the Ministry, we will need all the hands we can get."

Tonks nodded, " I could barely get off in time for this mission. I think Scrimgeour's just pissed that Harry won't endorse him."

Lupin came in, " Sorry I'm late. Albus, we ready?"

Snape sneered at Lupin, " You don't even know where we are going and you're ready to go? Stupid werewolf."

Lupin glared back at Snape, " I don't think I quite heard you there Snivellus. Could you repeat that?"

Snape's sneer turned to an angry glare, but he kept silent as Dumbledore ordered them to move out. Harry clutched the wand Dumbledore had given him. He hoped he was ready for this.

A/N: So here we go. Unlike some of my other stories, this story won't feature extensive Dumbledore bashing. Rather, he's going to be different. No manipulative Dumbledore. More action ready, " Let's Go!" kind of Dumbledore. Also, unlike most of my other stories, Daphne's being introduced to Harry early rather than later. Like I have planned for Goblin Champion, this is mostly a Harry/Daphne story with some One Night stands and infidelity on both sides. I might add a second later.

Harry as an Ice Mage: When you read Elemental Stories here on FanFic, you mostly see Shadow Harry's and Lightning Harry's. Every now and then, you get a Fire or maybe Earth Harry. So I decided to use a different element this time.

Element System: It may seem strange, but I'm using a less broad, more concise elemental system that actually defines what each Elemental is capable of using just by looking at the element. I came across it while reading on FictionPress. However, that doesn't mean that Harry's completely restricted to just Ice. Like in the game Golden Sun, Harry will be able to dabble in other elements, he's just a lot more powerful with Ice than the others.

Steel Magnolia Drive: Yeah I just made that up, but the name comes from the play Steel Magnolias.


	2. Chapter 2 This is War

Chapter 1 This is War

A/N: I modified Daphne's family to be larger than it was in Canon ( just her and Astoria), to Daphne having an older sister, and four younger sisters.

Harry took a breath of air as he Side-Apparated in with Tonks. She chuckled, " How come you're so much better with this?"

Harry glared, but kept silent. Mad Eye muttered lowly, " Something's wrong Albus. Too quiet."

Dumbledore took a glance at the front door, and jiggled the door knob. It was way too loose. He whispered, " I fear we are too late. Let us hurry. There may be survivors."

Dumbledore eased the door open with a slight creak. The insulting voice of Bellatrix Lestrange rained down on them from above, " It's the old man and his Order of Flaming Crow! Take positions!"

Dumbledore smiled, whispering, " You and your big ass mouth, Bella."

Dumbledore pointed at the small, ante-staircase that was leading out of a small room, " Harry, Tonks, Mad-Eye, and Fillus go that way. Minerva, Lupin, Emmeline, and Sturgis, you're with me."

Mad-eye led Harry towards the stairs. Harry immediately noticed something odd about the manor, it was cooler than it should be. He whispered to Moody, " They may have Dementors here."

Moody whispered back , " Good assessment. Now, keep behind us, and keep your head down."

Harry felt the air growing colder, and a sinking feeling was beginning to eat at his stomach. Dementors had to be here, somewhere. He gritted his teeth. That's when he noticed how slick the stairs were. Tonks asked, " Mad-Eye? Is this blood?"

Moody muttered _Lumos,_ and shone some light down on the stairs. Tonks caught her breath. Harry felt slightly queasy. The stairs were coated in what looked like rivers of fresh, crimson red blood. Moody hissed, " Come, we have better things to be doing than losing our stomachs over some blood. Potter, you've seen worse, so I think you can handle it."

They came to the top of the stairs, and heard fighting from the far halls. Dumbledore and his crew must have gotten up top first. They heard Bellatrix Lestrange's voice rising above the din, " You fools can take the old man and his fools,", followed by cackles of insane laughter. Moody shouted, " Go Loud!"

Harry watched Moody blast the door open, and open off with a blasting hex that caught the nearest Death Eater completely off guard. Harry shouted, " _Stupefy!"_

His stunner hit the next nearest Death Eater, who he didn't recognize, but must have been rather important. The other Death Eaters quickly tried to rally and secure his body and revive him. Harry and Tonks didn't let them.

Harry knew he didn't know enough offensive spells yet to actually be of much good in this fight, so he focused on defending himself and the others with shield charms. He ducked under an AK, and fired a stunner at the offending Death Eater.

Moody was a force of nature. He was the distraction, the threat drawer, and the main damage dealer. He didn't care if he killed, maimed, or stunned. As long as he stayed alive, and the enemy fell to him, it didn't matter. He was shouting at the others to do the same.

The fighting died down in the room they were in. Moody shouted, " Split up! We can look better for survivors if we split up. The main Death Eater force is occupied with Dumbledore. We should be able to inflict some damage on those trying to escape wounded. Let's go."

Tonks turned to Harry, " Harry, go to those rooms over there. They're the furthest away from the fighting, so it's more likely that there would be survivors there, than anywhere else. Plus, face it kiddo, you just don't have the experience yet for full combat. "

Harry nodded. It was a fact he had come to grips with as soon as Moody had blasted the door open ,and then blown that Death Eater's chest open. He opened the door. He whispered Lumos, and began his walk around. He kept his head bent down, and his ears peeled for any sort of sound. Most Death Eaters made their presence known immediately, especially if they ran across him, so finding one shouldn't be a problem. Like they didn't know what surprise was. Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix had the most chronic cases of this disease.

Harry was overwhelmed by the size of the manor. Granted, his own dwarfed this one, but he never even bothered to go above the first floor. The labyrinth of rooms was giving him a headache. Finally, after entering the same room for the fifth time, he whispered, " Fuck it. There's no one here. Better get back to Dumbledore and the others."

He almost jumped out of his boots when someone jabbed a wand in his back, and whispered, " Back up slowly."

Harry hesitated to obey, but whoever it was began to kick at him to force him to move. But the ragged breathing of the person gave him an idea. He also noticed that whoever it was, wasn't bothering to use their non-wand arm to try and pin his to his body. Tactical error.

Harry quickly spun around, slapped the wand out of the person's hand, and held the person under a powerful Lumos spell. To his surprise, it was a girl who looked his age, with golden blonde hair. He noticed that the reason she hadn't been using her other arm, was because she was trying to stem the blood flow of a wound to her stomach. He whispered menacingly, " I don't know if you're a Death Eater or not, but I don't like being surprised."

She grunted back, " Then you should pay better attention, Potter."

Harry narrowed his eyes, glaring into the cobalt blue eyes that opposed him. He looked down at the wound. Despite her attempts to stem the flow, she would bleed out shortly, maybe five minutes at most. Of course, that was an uneducated guess by Harry's standards. He hissed, " Lay down. Lay down, or I shall force you down. You're wasting energy you could be better using to fight that wound."

" Oh yeah? And what are you going to do about it? You're no healer. And this was done by a Piercing Curse, so doubt anyone amongst your little war party has the healing power to even cause this to clot."

Harry smirked, " With that attitude, I'm surprise you aren't already dead. Wait here."

With that, Harry dashed out of the room. He came upon the remains of the battle. Dumbledore was kicking one of the Death Eaters, asking, " Alastor, did you really have to kill her?"

Moody groaned, " Come now, Albus. That crazy bitch almost had you. If I hadn't blasted her with a Lung Collapsing Curse followed by a Bone Smasher to the sternum, she would have gotten you. Plus, It's Bellatrix Lestrange. The only person who's going to miss her is Voldemort. And I doubt he will."

Tonks looked upon the body coldly, " I agree with Moody on this, Professor. She may have been my aunt, but she killed my uncle, and she's clinically insane. The world will not miss her. If anything, fifty Noble and Ancient families will be holding celebrations. You know how many people were orphaned by the Arm of Death as she was often called? I'm sure Longbottom will want her body paraded around Diagon Alley."

Dumbledore gave a sneer worthy of Snape, " This is Bellatrix Lestrange we are talking about. I guess that of all the Death Eaters, she alone deserves no second chances. Shame Dolohov got away too. Wouldn't mind seeing his cold, dead eyes looking up at me either."

Moody patted Dumbledore on the shoulder, " Now that's the Dumbledore I learned to follow back when I was young. Come."

Harry broke in, " I found a survivor. But we'd better hurry. She may have left by the time we get there, or died."

Dumbledore smiled, " Knew you'd pull through Harry. Lead the way."

Harry led them through the rooms, almost getting lost, before a sarcastic voice hit him, " Oh goody, it's Potter and his merry band of Dumbledores. So this is the cavalry. I feel so much better now."

Dumbledore frowned, " Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Miss Greengrass. This wound is bad, but we can at least stop the bleeding here. Severus will have to finish. This was caused by a Piercer Curse combined with a powerful cutting curse who's incantation is Sectumsempra. Severus knows all about that spell, and will be able to better heal it than I. Lupin, you got a Blood Replinisher in that Med Kit of yours?"

Remus pulled a small pack out of his robes, enlarged it, and pulled out a small vial, " Enough to stimulate enough blood for an hour or so. It won't keep her alive long enough to get her to Hogwarts or St. Mungo's."

Dumbledore took it, and forced her to drink the pinkish potion, " Once I seal the wound, getting her to Hogwarts won't be a problem. We can't trust St. Mungo's. Too many Death Eater infiltrators. Harry! Minerva! Go check some of the other rooms. Maybe there are some more."

Greengrass coughed, " Don't get your hopes up, old man. My sister saw to it that we wouldn't live through this night."

Dumbledore wasn't disheartened, so he directed Harry and McGonagall to go search the other rooms. Greengrass coughed again, this time rather dryly, like someone who needed water desperately, " Check the Vault, in the basement."

Dumbledore nodded as he continued his work on a wound that was obviously frustrating the old man. Harry followed McGonagall, who seemed to have a good idea of how the house was built. When asked, she replied, " Most Pureblood families design their houses the same. Why? I'll never know. Like those houses on that road you used to live on. Privet Drive. Oh, now Potter Manor, on the other hand. That's a nice, unique establishment."

_Yeah, a veritable maze. _Harry thought, remembering that he hadn't even ventured to the third and fourth floors of his Manor yet. They suddenly stopped at a trail of blood. Harry murmured, " That can't be good."

McGonagall was slightly paler than usual, " I agree, Mr. Potter. Looks like whoever this belonged to was dragged down here. Maybe we can still find them."

Remembering what the Greengrass girl ( who he recognized slightly, but couldn't remember her name) said, he didn't get his hopes up. Before long, they began to run into more trails of blood. Some of them were dry, as though they had been brought down here hours before now. _That's not right. Snape said that the raid would occur at exactly midnight. But why should I trust Snape? He's a spy. I bet Voldemort knows he's a spy too, so it would make sense for Voldemort to give him the wrong time…Oh no. This is bad. Really bad. That would also mean that the girl upstairs is…._

Harry suddenly shouted, " Minerva! Go back upstairs, and tell Dumbledore to stop healing that Greengrass girl!"

McGonagall glared at him, " Mr. Potter, while we aren't at school, I would request that you refrain from using my given name unless I give you permission to do so."

Harry hissed, " That doesn't matter! Snape was given bad information! The Death Eaters have been here awhile now! Some of this blood is dry enough to have been here for hours! That means …"

McGonagall finished the statement with a scared look on her face, " That the girl upstairs is a Death Eater, and she was left behind to….Oh no."

McGonagall turned on her heals, and practically glided back upstairs. Harry turned to the place where all trails seemed to converge. A massive door, with a symbol that looked oddly like a leaf of Marijuana ( coincidence?) emblazoned on it. He thought he heard a voice crying out from within. He yelled, " How does someone who isn't a Greengrass family member enter this Vault?"

The voice, a girl's he noted, responded, " Uh…I think the password is Greengrass and High Tides Forever."

Harry, temporarily forgetting his situation, sang out, " 'Greengrass and High Tides forever!' Man I love that song."

To his surprise, the door began to slide open. When it opened, Harry promptly emptied his stomach on the ground, to the dismay of the girl who came walking out. She lifted her head up slightly, asking weakly, " Something wrong?"

Overwhelmed by the smell of death, Harry could barely answer, " K-K-Kind of. Oh man, Argghh!"

Wiping his mouth, Harry looked at the girl. She looked like the one upstairs, only his age. Her hair was a darker shade of blonde as well, not so radiant. She was holding her left arm, which wasn't bleeding anymore, but her white gown was stained crimson red with blood. She asked weakly, " You're Harry Potter right? That means help finally came…."

Harry was kind of surprised, " Who was that girl upstairs? Your sister?"

The girl jerked her head up, and immediately winced. That's when Harry noticed she had an infected slash at the base of her neck. She yelled, " Don't help her! That's my older sister, Lindsey. She's a Death Eater! She and my next sister, Astoria, sold us out!"

Harry asked, " But who are you?"

" I'm Daphne you dolt. The one in your year, except in Slytherin?"

Harry frowned, " Sorry, doesn't really ring a bell. Don't take it too badly, I blame the Gryffindor Slytherin feud. Personally, I would love to get to know you better."

Daphne smirked, " Now isn't the time for idle flirting Potter. Go get Dumbledore and his cronies. They need to see this. I think I'll live."

Right as Harry turned to leave, he was accosted by Dumbledore, who immediately praised him, " Good call Harry. As soon as the wound was sealed, she Port Keyed away. No doubt to go back to her master to inform him of Lestrange's death. And I guess this is the Miss Greengrass I have the pleasure of having in school?"

Harry nodded, " Indeed. But there seems to be something in the Vault that we need to look at."

Dumbledore turned to Flitwick, " Take Miss Greengrass to the Hospital Ward. None of her wounds, festering though they are, are beyond the efforts of Madame Pomfrey to heal."

Daphne turned to Harry, whispering faintly before she left, " I won't forget this, Harry. Thank you."

Harry nodded stoically, and turned back towards the Vault. He, Dumbledore, and Moody walked up to it. Dumbledore summed it up nicely in the one of the only times Harry had ever heard him curse, " Fucking God. This is…."

Even Moody, who had seen everything, " This is unspeakable. A new low. Even for Death Eaters."

McGonagall actually fainted when she saw it. Harry still had to fight a dry heave.

Roughly forty corpses in various states of disembowelment and fragmentation were piled in large piles almost as tall as Flitwick. Pools of stagnate and semi dried blood were fermenting everywhere. Nowhere was dry. Harry winced uneasily at a squelch when he first stepped in, realizing that he had stepped on someone's eye. Moody was examining one that was in the Blood Eagle spread, " That's Damien. Even after the horrendous disfigurement, I'd recognize a man I trained any day. You can almost see some blonde in that hair."

Dumbledore examined a female corpse, " This is Tracey Davis. I recognize her brown hair and purple eyes. Pretty unique, considering no one else in her family had those traits. Looks like the male death eaters had their way with her, multiple times, based on the inflammation and bloodied state of her genitalia. She was still alive at the time. There are whip marks on her chest. Looks like Bella's trademarks."

Harry decided to ignore the rest of Dumbledore's forensic report. He was having enough time stomaching the dinner he had eaten several hours previously without the grisly details. Harry felt some tears well up when he saw the corpses of younger children, some not older than five according to Dumbledore. One was eleven, and still had her Hogwarts letter in her robes.

In total, the Death Eaters had massacred almost fifty people, and completely annihilated seven Pureblood families. The Zabini, Davis, Sanderson, Croaker, Freeman, Pucey, and Davies families were all wiped out or had lost at least one generation. Only the Davies family had a member left, and that was Roger Davies, the ex-Ravenclaw captain who had refused the invite because of a game for Puddlemere United. Daphne and her two Death Eater Sisters were all that remained of the Greengrass family. The entire list of casualties would be published the next day.

Harry shook with anger over the sheer pointlessness of the attack. Just because they hadn't joined either side. But to Voldemort, if you weren't on his side, then you were his enemy. Period.

5-4-2-6-7-7-7-8-88-9-9-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-533-5-7-3-5-756-6-8658-6-8-56-8-8-865-765-7-657-56-8-48-88

( Potter Manor…A Week Later)

Harry threw the Daily Prophet on the ground, and lit it on fire in front of Dumbledore, " Where do they get off?"

Dumbledore looked up passively from the book he was reading, by some woman who sounded familiar, " What's wrong now Harry?"

Harry just shrugged, " I hate the Daily Prophet. So much right now, it isn't funny. Completely lost is the fact that Six Pureblood families were utterly wiped out. That two more came within a hair's breadth of being exterminated. That we killed Bellatrix Lestrange, and captured a dozen more Death Eaters. But the front cover is about me being involved. "

Dumbledore chuckled slightly, " You should have expected that. The only thing worse than the press is fan girls. I had plenty of those back in the day too. You get used to them."

Harry glared at Dumbledore, who decided to change the subject, " Miss Greengrass made a full recovery. She had three gashes on the insides of her thighs as well. All of her wounds were in full sepsis, and she fought death for several days, before Madame Pomfrey and Severus were able to get the infections under control. She also had to be treated for several blood born and venereal diseases that she picked up from being in a vault full of corpses for three hours, but she healed remarkably well after the sepsis faded. She won't be able to fully look someone in the eye for a few days, or walk steadily, but she will be fine."

Harry smiled slightly, " Good. But I'm guessing you aren't telling me this for no reason. Outside of the fact that I was worried about her well being, hell I did save her."

Dumbledore smirked, " Well, Greengrass Manor is compromised, and she has no immediate family to take her in. I recommended that she move in with you."

" I'm not running a charity here Professor,", Harry answered testily.

Dumbledore answered, " Well, unfortunately for you, she accepted the offer. I would advise keeping a supply of Dreamless sleep potions and some Calming Draughts as well. Fillus said she sometimes lapses into full on breakdowns. Complete nervous breakdowns. I believe the Muggles call it Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. And this is the girl that the school calls the Ice Queen."

Harry shrugged slightly. He heard that PTSD sometimes took years to get over, and was generally accompanied by large bouts of depression. Given the way his life had unfolded, he often wondered why he wasn't stuck in a mental hospital himself. Then again, the Wizarding world had a completely different grasp of what was mental than the Muggle world.

Dumbledore continued, " I believe that you should be able to aide her through her grief. After all, you aren't unfamiliar with how this works."

" And you aren't? Professor, I was ONE year old when my parents were killed. I only have one memory of them, and only have that because of Dementors. Sirius was the closest thing I had to a real family member, but even when I lost him, it pales in comparison to what happened to Daphne alright? I mean, watching your parents, grandparents, both aunts and uncles, as well as your three younger sisters, one of which was only THREE, be killed by Death Eaters is far worse. Then being thrown into a vault with their rotting and defiled corpses, as well as those of your closest friends, I don't really see how I can help at all."

Dumbledore frowned, " Be that as it may, I feel that it is for the best that she reside with one her own age. You have no idea the political flak I had to fire in order to get this done right? You know who her god father was?"

" Lucius Malfoy?"

Dumbledore darkened considerably. Harry chuckled slightly, before noticing the man's face, " Wait, I was just joking. There's no way in hell."

Dumbledore shrugged, " Severus said that Lucius knew Damien from before. It is possible that he bribed him into doing it. Draco's desire for her isn't a secret either. Maybe this had something to do with it."

Dumbledore took a deep breath, " Either way, I expended some favors to get the Wizengamot to overturn Lucius on grounds of being a convicted criminal, pretty much the same way he got Sirius discredited as your guardian."

Harry scowled, " Interesting. Back on topic, when will she be here? I need to tell Azerith to get the upper floors ready."

Dumbledore looked at his watch ( funny that he was wearing a watch), " In two hours. I think you'd better hurry."

Harry looked wearily at Dumbledore, then called his head Elf, " Azerith? Come here please?"

A regal looking House Elf popped in, " Something I can do for you, Lord Potter?"

" I need you to clean the Third and Fourth floors. I want you to prepare a bedroom on the third floor as well. I will be having a guest for an indefinite time."

Azerith nodded, and popped out. Harry appreciated Azerith a lot more than Dobby, because he didn't act like Harry was the God of the Universe like Dobby tended to do. In fact, Azerith was frank, honest, and brutally truthful in a way that reminded Harry of Luna. That in turn reminded Harry that he wasn't friends with Luna anymore. He wasn't looking forward to his return to Hogwarts in a week at all. Then he remembered Neville's little ball. Damn, suddenly his last week was looking interesting.

542-6-7-7-8-8-89-9-9-87-5-4-3-5-77-88-8-65-4-4-3-4-7-7-8-8-8-8-6-5-4-44-5-5-6-67-7-8-89-

( The Burrow)

Ron sat next to Hermione, looking out of the window at the Burrow. He wondered briefly why it was snowing outside if it was the middle of August? Hermione looked out, " Ron? Is it snowing?"

Ron shrugged non-committaly, " I guess. I mean, it isn't even cold outside, so why? I know it isn't the Twins playing a prank on me like they did one time when I was younger. They took mum's entire stockpile of baking soda, and started sprinkling it down outside. Being an idiot, I thought it was snowing."

Ginny frowned at Ron, " I remember that. Mum accused you of lying, because they stopped as soon as they saw you had left the window. "

Ron muttered, " Good times…."

" Good times indeed."

Ron spun around to see the Twins walking into the kitchen. George muttered, " All hell's broke loose on us. Dad says we're lucky Dumbledore didn't kick us out of the Order. The Goblins sent us an Eviction notice, claiming that our investor had recalled the money he gave us. We're having to shut the shop down, because we didn't make enough last quarter to make up for business costs, plus Harry wanting back the thousand galleons he lent us to start up."

_No wonder they look so dour…_ Ron thought as he looked at Fred, who looked like he was on the verge of tears. George went over to their father's liquor cabinet, and pulled out a bottle of muggle Vodka, " This is a bad day for us. We've dreamed of that shop, and now it's all gone."

Fred walked over, and pulled out a bottle of Scotch, " I know we fucked Harry royally, but I really didn't think he would come back with such a vengeance you know. I mean, that's pretty low of him to attack our dream like that. I wonder how he knew that we wouldn't have the money right now to pay it?"

Had he not been busy preparing for Daphne's arrival, Harry likely would have been laughing his ass off with Dumbledore and Narcissa about the fate of WWW. Given that it had actually been the Goblins who had suggested it ( vindictive bastards) because of the false reports filed for the Restraining order….

None of the Weasleys knew this, they just thought Harry had gotten lucky. Fred was moaning, " Why did we listen to Bill?"

Ron mused, " I don't know! I can't exactly remember what we were doing when he came in wearing this necklace. He was going off about Potter endangering his younger siblings. Pretty big shift, because Bill used to respect Harry for his daring attitude. But that all seemed to change one day after Bill said he had met someone at Gringotts."

Fred muttered, " That's fishy, but it doesn't matter. The damage is done. Harry will never trust us again, and our joke shop was shut down. Back to the farm as they say. Any idea why it's snowing?"

Ron shook his head, and Hermione did so as well. They didn't know Harry was playing a trick on them using the only Ice Ability he knew thus far.

-2-2-787-8-8-9-9-09-0-9-8-66-5-24-3-3-4-455-6-7-8-98-9-8-6-5-44-4-4-4-5-6-4-8-8-88-6-6-46

( Potter Manor)

" So this is Potter Manor?"

" Yes it is Daphne. Impressive isn't it? I haven't even been to the third and fourth floors yet."

Harry chuckled at her shocked expression, " Hey, Narcissa lives in the basement, so don't start."

" I heard about her marriage being annulled by Sirius Black's will, so I guess it was true?"

Harry sighed, " Yeah. If nothing else, she's proven to be a wealth of political information for me and Dumbledore, as well as suitable eye candy."

" So you keep her around as a pinup girl?"

Harry smirked slightly, " Why else?"

" You surprise me Potter. And here I thought you were more sexually repressed that Granger…"

Harry frowned, " Speak not of the bushy haired wench who's brain is more susceptible than she believes."

" Woah, someone had a falling out I guess?"

Harry glared, " You could say that. Now, let us hope that Dumbledore isn't home, playing on the drums again. Or blaring Def Leopard on the radio again…."

" You have Muggle electronics here?"

Harry chuckled as they walked up to the door, " Dumbledore installed them. He's pretty beast on the drums now. Double bass and all."

" I'm sorry Potter, but I have no idea what a double bass is."

Harry sighed, as he went to open the door. No sooner did he open it, did he get blasted by the sounds of a guitar, and the vocals, " _POUR SOME SUGAR ON ME!"_

Harry shouted, " TURN THE RADIO DOWN!"

Dumbledore looked up from the novel he was reading ( The Silmarillion), and turned the volume knob down. He shot up, " Ah Harry! Miss Greengrass! Nice to see you again. Are you well?"

Daphne moved her golden hair out of her eyes, " As well as can be expected, Professor. May I ask a question?"

" Ask away, my dear."

" Why are you living with Potter?"

Harry and Dumbledore looked at each other, " Well, it's kind of mutual. You see, House Dumbledore is a vassal house of House Potter. And Dumbledore's home was attacked over the summer break, so…"

" Not a good lie there, Potter. Let me guess, you didn't even know this place existed until he showed you."

Harry blushed slightly. Dumbledore held his arms up, " Hey, he said I could live here, and it isn't like he doesn't have enough space. Harry has two basements you know."

Harry answered through gritted teeth, " Only because the Marauders were more than just a school prank group. They just HAD to start a band after they graduated didn't they?"

Dumbledore smiled, " Stubby and the Nuclear Marauders were a bestselling band in the seventies. Their two albums went triple platinum each. Very heavy I might say, especially for their time. A combination of sorts, like Judas Priest combined with Opeth and Dream Theater. But they were Wizarding World Only band. Sirius Black was the frontman and the bassist. Remus Lupin was the Drummer, Peter Pettigrew was keyboardist and did the growling vocals, and James Potter was Lead Guitarist."

Harry shook his head, " I can see Sirius as a vocalist in a heavy metal band, but I could never, EVER see Lupin as a drummer. Especially with a triple bass like the set in the basement. You know, the one with satanic pentagrams on the bass drums?"

Dumbledore smiled, " My brother put those on there."

Daphne broke in, " Hey, Potter? Do you mind showing me my quarters and getting my stuff in out of the snow? Speaking of which, why is it snowing anyway?"

Harry and Dumbledore looked at each other in the way that told Daphne she was about to get a weird explanation. Harry answered, " I'm an Ice Mage, so I practice by making it snow. In the middle of the summer yes. It should be snowing at the Burrow as well. My idea of a prank. I also have an idea for that Basilisk head in the Chamber of Secrets. But anyway, let's go. Azerith? Could you get Daphne's stuff in and move it into that bedroom on the third floor for her?"

Harry's Chief elf appeared, fixed Harry with a withering look, and took the stuff off with a pop. Daphne looked at Harry, " What's up with that House Elf? He seems kind of…surly."

" Just how he is. You get used to it. Kind of like Luna Lovegood, just without the insane animals that no one else can see."

Daphne nodded as Harry guided her up to the third floor, " The third floor is basically yours. I never come up here at any rate, so just shout for Azerith if you need someone. There's some Dreamless sleep potions in the cupboard, as well as some calming draughts. Use them as you need, but tell me if you run low. I hate Snape with a passion, and would rather not have to face him again before school starts in a week. By the way, I will not be here on the 30th, because of a ball that Neville's hosting. You are more than welcome to come as my guest."

Daphne glared at him, " I have better things to be doing than going to social calls, Potter."

Harry shook his head and left. A few days later, he, Daphne, and Dumbledore finished whatever shopping they needed to get done. Harry noticed with a small cheer that WWW had a Closed until Further Notice sign on the front. That meant the Goblins had been perfect with their timing. The Goblin reports said that the Twins paid for supplies and employees at the same time every month, and that for about a week, they couldn't make up the difference. So that's when Harry and the Goblins struck. Last week of the month.

Harry picked himself some new dress robes. These weren't bottleneck green ( he still wondered why Molly Weasley had thought he would look good in them), rather, they were sable red with gold sprinkled throughout. They also fit him better, since his old ones were now too small. Harry got a new set of shoulder and knee pads for Quidditch, though he doubted he would be playing this year since he hadn't gotten the captaincy. Dumbledore had personally handed him his letter for school, and there were no badges in it. He only assumed that Katie Bell had gotten it instead. God help Gryffindor if Ron had gotten it.

Since Katie Bell hung around with Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet, who were Fred and George's girlfriends ( respectively), her opinion of him probably wasn't very good right now. The only reason she would let him on is if he offered sexual favors to her. After all, it wasn't a secret the Golden Fox had long harbored a crush on the Golden Boy. Well, not a secret to everyone except him that is. He would have gladly taken Katie over Cho last year, she was a lot more physically "gifted" than Cho, but no one felt the need to inform him of this. Not even after that absolutely disastrous date on Valentine's Day. It probably would have been nice to have a ready and willing "rebound" girl.

They all returned later that day, with Harry helping Daphne up the stairs because her painkillers had worn off. She hissed, " Remind me not to go out of this Manor without some additional Numbing Potions. Seems like your trying to cope a feel with the way you're helping me up here."

Harry had already gotten used to Daphne's quips about his seemingly new found sexuality, and she was teasing him a lot about how he seemed to be a lot more interested in attractive girls than he used to be. Of course, that night was different story…..

234-5-2346-26-78-8-25-6-45-7-37-7-38-38-6-7-6-567-68-8-6-8-67-56-75-67-674-6-848-48-8-8-4-86-856

( Later)

Harry woke up with a jolt from one of his Voldemort Nightmares. He grabbed the glass of water he kept on his bedstand, and chugged it in one gulp. He sat there panting slightly for a few moments. This time, Voldemort was grieving, if such an emotion was even possible for him, about Bella's death. Of course, the end of the dream was full of him torturing random Death Eaters for failing to bring him this information earlier. In fact, he hadn't found out until a week or so after it happened, so his info network must have been really bogged down recently.

That's when Harry thought he heard screams coming from upstairs. He got up, and ran up to the third floor, where he found Azerith already there. He muttered, " Lord Potter, the Lady Greengrass forgot to take her Dreamless Sleep Potion."

Harry thrust him aside, " Enough said. I've lived enough horrific events in my life again through my dreams to probably know what's going on. Grab me some water."

Azerith nodded, and popped out. Harry jiggled the knob, predictably found it looked, unlocked it using Alohomora, and practically barged in. He stood, stunned for a moment. Daphne was tossing and turning, as though under the Crucio, writhing. She was yelling in her sleep, " Stop! Don't kill her! Gwen's only,", followed by an anguished scream. After that, Harry figured he had to do something. Harry shouted, " Aguamenti!"

A large blast of cold water fired from his wand, slamming into the writhing teen on the bed. She shot up, grabbed her wand, and shot a Stunner at him. He fired one back, and hit his target. Azerith popped in right after that. Harry walked up, and whispered, " _Ennervate"_

Daphne jerked back to life, " POTTER! What are you doing in here?"

Harry hissed, " Trying to figure out why you're trying to wake the house up. Here, drink this,", he thrust a Calming draught into her hands, " Who's Gwen?"

Daphne drained the draught, and sank back onto her pillows, " Gwendolen was my youngest sister. She was three…."

Harry gave an ah. She was reliving the attack. Even through the Calming Draught, Daphne broke down in front of him, and began to basically give him a description of what happened through wracking sobs.

" It was terrible. They showed up at seven, right after the dinner had started. Astoria jumped up, and shouted ' All hail Lord Voldemort!' All hell broke loose. They didn't kill us, no that was too simple. They stunned most of us. I got lucky. I was upstairs, still putting my dress robes on when I heard Rodolphus and Lindsey talking about leaving her behind as a distraction for the Order when they arrived."

Harry's eyes widened. Voldemort had thrown Snape off by Five Hours! Five hours of unrelenting torment and death. No wonder that room smelt so bad.

" I used the maze upstairs to evade the two for nearly an hour, before my legs gave out. Rodolphus laughed at me, ' Pretty little Daphne trying to run? Bella will show her the error of her ways.' That's when Lindsey smiled, cackling like that twisted bitch, ' Oh, yes little sister. Bella will make you feel good in ways that you didn't even know existed!' That's when I remembered Bella's predations. She likes it rough, very rough. Like those torturers that wear all red in that book by the American. She can't have children herself, but she takes it out on everyone else. Lindsey bragged to Astoria once that even the Dark Lord had to get an ice pack after Lestrange was done with him. I shivered."

Harry whispered, " Well, at least that Lestrange dead."

" G-G-Good. I w-w-wish I could have killed her m-m-myself,", Harry noticed she was beginning to stammer. He handed her the glass of water that Azerith had brought. She whimpered, " Thank you Harry."

He took the glass back with a, " No problem."

" I was locked in that vault for the next four hours. Lestrange inflicted all those wounds on me. She said she wouldn't kill me, because she was saving me for Draco, but she didn't hesitate to inflict pain on me. Rather than target me specifically, she had the others systematically eliminate all the others first. That's why I was the only one still alive. They made Tracey do atrocious things. They forced her to kill her own father under a body control curse. All I remember is it wasn't the Imperious, because she was perfectly aware of what was going on, but she had no control over her body. Then, the Death Eaters had their little fun with her. I remember Macnair bitching because she died while it was his turn. I-I-I can't bear to talk about the rest."

Harry nodded, " I can't say I understand, but I've enough experience with tragedy myself. We may not be friends, Daphne, but remember that I am here for you. I might have to speak with Dumbledore about getting you moved out of the Slytherin Dorms. Draco might finish the job. "

She looked at him with terrified, but grateful eyes, " You-You would do that for someone you hardly know?"

Harry smirked, " They call it my ' Saving People' thing. Something about another human in pain or suffering, and I am just drawn to them like a fly to those muggle fly lanterns. Tell me something Daphne. Did they do anything else to you while you were down there?"

Daphne quivered for a moment, " Never. They told me to save myself for Draco. That's Draco's fetish. He likes virgins. Don't know why, but while he's publically with Parkinson, he's always after younger girls because of that. It's how he met Astoria. He reminds me of this guy named Telly in this creepy movie I saw one time."

Harry nodded, " You mean the movie ' Kids?' Director Larry Clark?"

Daphne nodded back, " Yeah, that's it_. _Those lines_, ' Virgins. I love'em. No diseases, no skank, no loose as a goose pussy. Just pure pleasure_,', just drives me nuts. And Lestrange knew this. She made it a point to say that every time she remembered I was there. Which was quite often. But, thankfully, the worst they ever did was put me under the Cruciatus, and cut me a few times."

Harry sighed, " Well, those little cuts came the closest to killing you. After all, they got infected because of being in there with forty so odd corpses. Nonetheless, you lived. That is how we must honor the dead. By carrying forth their banner amongst the living. There is only the future and the present. But do yourself a favor Daphne. Until, say the fifth week of Hogwarts, try to drink those Dreamless Sleep potions. They aren't there to freshen the air you know? I only wish I had some when Sirius died. And Cedric. I relived those for weeks."

He patted Daphne on the shoulder, " Hey, how about his? You remember that Ball I told you about earlier? It might do you some good to be out in the public, so you don't mind if I take you do you?"

" Are you asking me on a date Potter? A little quick aren't you?"

Harry narrowed his eyes, " Not yet. That…might be later. But I have some other girls I want to explore first. Forgive me, but if I showed up at Hogwarts with my arm around your waist, my house would kill me. Nevermind what happened, I could just see Ronald Weasley screaming, ' HARRY! She's a Death Eater Run!' or Hermione Granger going, ' She's clearly got you under a love potion. Let me go find the antidote?'"

Daphne laughed weakly, " Yeah, that sounds about what I think they would do. I think there was a lot more going on with your 'friends' than you thought, Harry."

" What happened to Potter?"

Daphne glared at him, " Fine then, be that way you Gryffindor bastard."

Harry chuckled, " Fair point. I guess that in private we can call each other Harry and Daphne, but in public, we better go formal. Otherwise, people might think we're crazy. Even more than they already do."

With that, Harry got up, and left. He slept peacefully the rest of the night. That morning, he was woken up by Dumbledore. He said, " Harry, that was a nice thing you did last night."

" How did you know?"

Dumbledore's eyes twinkled, " Haven't you heard? I know everything."

" Then what's your secret?"

Dumbledore held up a cup of mango and apple juice, " I use tiger blood."

Harry laughed, " Nice try Dumbledore. But that's clearly just a cocktail of mango and apple juice."

Dumbledore straightened, " Anyway, I won't be back. I will be seeing you at Hogwarts Harry. Severus says that the curse from the ring is confined to my hand right now, so I'm going to have him amputate it in the hopes that will stop the spread of the corruption. Plus, it's my left hand and I don't need it anyway."

" Good call professor."

A/N: Yeah the background for the Marauders after they left school, but before the BIG EVENT isn't going to be the typical " Sirius, James, and Remus were Unspeakables or Aurors. Pettigrew was the left out pussy and that's why he joined Volde" story. The Next Chapter: Harry meets the other side of his family.

Sepsis: The tainting and poisoning of a wound caused by human waste or decaying flesh.

References and memes

Tiger Blood: Ever since that Charlie Sheen interview, this has hit the web hot, but it really is an actual drink. Of course, it isn't actually tiger blood either. It's kind of an apple, mango sports drink.

Those tormentors who wore red: A reference to the Mord-Sith of the Seeker saga.

Kids: This is probably the creepiest movie by a rather creepy director in Larry Clark. He's the guy famous for several Punk/Indie films, generally about social stereotypes like Punk rockers ( Wassup Rockers), surfer, prep ( Bully), suicide ( Ken Park), and white person who thinks he or she is black ( Kids). His films are rather infamous for the use of teens in graphically sexual movies, like Ken Park. Believe it or not, they all actually have good plots, once you get past the general creepiness about them.

The Movie _Kids _came out in 1995.

Draco's Fetish: An American Pie 5 the Naked Mile reference, where Erik Stifler's hot sorority chick hooked up with him because she like virgins.

Stubby and the Nuclear Marauders: A combination. Stubby gives the Quibbler a legit reason to call Sirius, Stubby Boardman. Nuclear is a reference to Nuclear Blast Records, a record company that does mostly underground, independent, and metal groups in general. And of course, Marauders are the Marauders.


	3. Chapter 3 The Other Family

Chapter 2 The Other Family

A/N: Warning: Harry's other family are assholes.

* * *

><p>Harry sighed deeply as he picked up the necklace bearing the Potter emblem, and slung it over his head. It had been made for someone of a much more cushy childhood than he to say the least. He hooked his cloak the way that Dumbledore had shown him to do in order to get the Snape Effect. He smirked at the mirror when the cloak billowed out behind him impressively, despite him not actually moving.<p>

" You look too much like Professor Snape, Harry."

Harry turned to Daphne, who was wearing a tight, golden dress that showed off her figure impressively, " I guess you like it then? "

She sneered impressively, " You look like an billboard advertising Gryffindor. Only thing you're missing is the lion on the back."

Harry laughed at his red dress robes and gold cloak, " Says the girl wearing the tight, gold dress. Anyway, Neville gave me some bad news. It looks like my cousin is going to be there."

Daphne glanced to the side, " Annalisa Potter's going to be there? That isn't good news. I met her once. She…isn't very nice to say the least."

" That's what I was afraid of. The Goblins said that side of the family wasn't exactly known for its sincerity and purity like mine."

Daphne snorted at the purity and sincerity part, " They obviously don't know you very well."

" And you can claim to have more intimate knowledge than they?"

Daphne flinched at the way he turned the question back on her, " I guess not. Potter, you really are an inconsiderate bastard sometimes."

" Yeah, but I have a tendency to make up for it later. I can also be a vindictive bastard as well. Just ask Fred and George Weasley."

Daphne giggled a little before answering, " I guess they would be a good example."

Harry slipped both wands up his sleeves, " Well, we ready to head off?"

Daphne smirked, " As I'll ever be. I just hope I can avoid the unfortunate topic."

Harry patted her on the shoulder, " Just stay calm, because I can absolutely guarantee that's going to be the first thing most people ask you about. I know from experience."

Daphne looked at him reproachfully, but she knew that he was right. He'd told her about all the times he had been pestered after Cedric Diggory's death, especially since most people seemed to think he was an attention seeking madman at the time. Harry looked at his watch, " Well, time to go. Let's hope Neville doesn't have any more unpleasant surprises for us."

4-1-71-8-9-9-0-30-9-7-65r5-4-5-65-35-737-89-9-9-9-6-7-673-5-7-88-8-99-9-9-95-9-8-7-75-6467-7-73

(Longbottom Manor)

" Harry! How you doing? I see you found this place easily."

Harry shook Neville's hand, " It wasn't that hard to be honest. I mean, the flyer you sent me had a picture with it of all things."

Neville blushed, " Ah, I guess I did send you a picture. That was kind of stupid. Death Eaters and all. We don't…."

Harry took Neville aside before he could say anything, " Hey Nev? Could you do me a favor and try to avoid mentioning that Greengrass tragedy? I'm kind of here with the only one left."

Neville looked at Daphne, " Ah, I see now. I thought I recognized her, but then again, I don't really know anyone outside of our house. Hardly anyone in our house for that matter."

Harry whispered, " Yeah, she's still kind of sensitive about it. So, do me a favor alright? Try not to press about it."

Neville nodded, " I will do what I can, but I can't guarantee the other guests. Your cousin is…different from you."

" So I've heard, and I'm not particularly looking forward to meeting her and her father."

Neville shrugged, " Well, I think they are waiting for you. As soon as they saw the guest list, they made sure to take a table close to the door."

Harry sighed, " Hooray. Just what I need on the eve of my inevitable confrontation with Hermione and Ron. A confrontation with my uncle and his daughter."

" Daughters, Harry. He has two. But one is rather distinctively different looking than the eldest. I wonder why?"

Harry muttered, " Like asking why Narcissa Black has silver blonde hair when everyone else in her family has black hair."

Neville chuckled, " Good point. I guess genetic discrepancies occur from time to time to increase the Human Genome."

Harry's mouth dropped, " Since when do you know Genetics Neville?"

" Professor Sprout had me look into it. Turns out, despite both of us being Purebloods, we both like that Muggle Science. It explains so many maladies that affect plants, like that Mosaic disease that ruins tobacco, and why some trees get cancerous tumors and odd growths. I never thought I would say this, but Muggles got us beat by a thousand years Harry. I mean, being able to clean the house with some words and the waive of a wand is great. But what if we could stop Voldemort by infecting all of his men with biotoxins or using weapons that can shoot out bullets faster than a man can react? I mean, an Avada Kedavra can kill one man, but a Rocket or a Grenade can kill crowds. And between you and me, I don't think those Purists would think anything of someone throwing a pineapple shaped object at them."

Harry looked at Neville with a newfound respect. He had some good points. Harry wondered why the Magicals didn't use anything the Muggles had. Hell, Neville was right. An RPG wielding fanatic with no training at all could wipe out half of the Death Eaters in one shot before even the best trained one could get off an Avada Kedavra, assuming he ambushed them or it was on equal ground.

Daphne came up, " You know Potter, it's rude to leave a woman waiting."

Neville and Harry turned around. Harry answered, " I'm Harry Potter. Ordinary rules don't apply to me. Everyone should know that by now. Especially someone in Slytherin. Snape blathers all the time about how I'm just an attention seeking, rule breaking brat who's just like his father."

Daphne laughed, " You have no idea, Potter."

Neville bowed, " Well, I'll be seeing you two inside then. The band should be arriving shortly. Just try not to blow anything up until then."

Harry sniggered a little at Neville's remark. He took Daphne's arm, and guided her into Longbottom Manor. The Manor itself was a nice piece of work in its own right. The inside walls were designed after the interior of the Viking Longboats that the Longbottoms got their names from. While the Potters had been in Britain since before the Roman Empire, the Longbottoms were Viking Raiders who had settled down in the territory north of York after a raid.

Harry entered the large atrium of the house, noting the magic that had enlarged it. Neville had only invited a few families, namely Harry's, Susan Bones, the Abbotts, and some family from Italy named the Luccassons.

Susan was still pretty shaken over her Aunt being killed in a Death Eater raid, but she sympathized with Daphne. Hannah Abbott and her younger sister still didn't fully trust Harry. Given the Chamber of Secrets accident, then his Thunder Stealing during the Tri-Wizard Tourney, and finally, the deranged ravings of the Prophet last year, he could understand their feelings.

The one person Harry was genuinely surprised to see, was his former DADA professor, Remus Lupin. To compound things, he wasn't wearing dress robes either. He was wearing what could only be considered fashionable for a hair band in the eighties. He wasn't even wearing a shirt. Lupin shouted, " Hey Harry! How's your summer been?"

Harry looked at his werewolf mentor, " It's been pretty good, Professor."

Lupin smiled, " For now, you can just call me Moony. I guess you're wondering why I am here?"

Harry looked at Moony's apparel, " I can ask you that question as well. Clearly you aren't here for the ball. You would look a lot more in place at a Rock concert."

Moony smiled, " You aren't far off. I've been hired to be the temporary drummer for the band that Neville hired tonight."

" You mean you really are a drummer?"

Moony laughed, " I guess Dumbledore told you about Stubby and the Nuclear Marauders then? Well, after your parents were killed and Sirius was shipped off to Azkaban, I went freelance. I had to make money somehow, after all, Umbridge made it almost impossible for me to get a job in the Wizarding World. So I started going out as a guest drummer. I went to Continental Europe, which is why Dumbledore could never find me until Sirius escaped. I've had a lot of success on the continent you know."

" Like who?"

Moony laughed, " Let's see. I've guest played for Helloween, Heaven's Gate, Blind Guardian. I played when Boston went on their Don't Look Back Tour. I played with Journey once, and Phil Collins. So yeah, I've been around. But I used an alias with each one, and it was only a guest appearance. Dumbledore attended the one where I played with Def Leopard because their drummer was recovering from the accident that took his arm."

Harry starred at his father's friend in a whole new light, " Damn, that is a pretty good track record. Nice to see you here though, I was kind of worried."

Moony smiled, then he turned to Daphne, kissed her hand, and said, " It does me well to see you better after the unfortunate incident. You were one of my best students, so I worried a little about you. Not as much as I worry about poor Harry here, poor boy always finds some way to play poker with Death, but some all the same. By the way, you look nice."

Daphne blushed, the first time either Harry or Moony had seen her do that, " Thank you, Lupin."

Lupin began to converse with Daphne, so Harry took the opportunity to go speak with some of the other guests. He found the Luccassons to be rather entertaining. They were a strange, happy-go-lucky lot to say the least. But they were a great example of " Never Judge a Book by Its Cover."

The elders were highly trained hit wizards. Irelia Luccasson had met her husband during her first deployment. Turili Luccasson was three years older than his wife, but had still been a rookie when he met her. It was a tale of love at first sight really.

The oldest child, Michelle, was in Harry's year. She was a rather thin girl, and she was rather flimsy looking. Kind of like Luna had been. She had silvery blonde hair that Harry had come so often to associate with the Malfoys. When asked, her mother answered, " My maiden name was Malfoy. I'm from France, but I moved to Italy when I was ten. My parents thought Beauxbatons was too snobbish."

While that explanation was strange coming from someone who was born a Malfoy, it was rather true. In fact, the very same opinion that Harry had of Fleur when he first met her ( once he got over the fact that she was probably the sexiest thing since sex itself), and really wasn't surprised to hear that other people who went to Beauxbatons tended to be rather full of themselves.

All three of the children would be transferring into Hogwarts. It was a strange occurrence, because Harry had never heard of people being able to do it. Michelle explained, " It's because Hogwarts is so full of itself. It thinks that it is so good, but in reality, it is pretty substandard compared to Beauxbatons, Durmstrang, or even St. George's. That's why other schools won't accept Hogwarts students unless it's a big deal. Say if you were to transfer."

Harry shrugged, " Well, I guess that if I ever wanted to transfer, I would have to throw the 'Boy-Who-Lived/Chosen one' weight around."

" Exactly."

When asked why they suddenly decided to move to England, he got the most shocking answer, " We wanted to fight Voldemort."

That struck Harry as being utter idiocy. To actually come looking for Voldemort was just plain stupidity! " What?"

Turili answered, " We wanted to see if the hype is all it's meant to be. You know, if he's really as powerful as they say."

This pissed Harry off. A lot. How dare they question whether or not Voldemort was as big a threat as everyone said? But his reply was cut short by Neville announcing, " Ladies and Gentlemen, may I have your attention please? We are about to begin, and I would like for you all to pair up. I would like to introduce the band we have here to provide us with our music for the evening. They go by the name of ' The Wolves of Perdition' They are a cover band just looking for a start up really. "

Harry laughed, seeing why Moony would want to play with a band named that. He saw Daphne, and walked over next to her. She muttered, " I heard you're rubbish at dancing, Potter."

" Like you would know, you didn't even go to the Yule Ball."

Daphne smirked, " Parvati Patil didn't care who she complained to about the way you treated her, Potter. She compared you lovingly to a box of rocks when it comes to dancing. Always stepping on her feet during the two dances."

" Nice to see you're optimistic."

" I prefer realistic, Potter. Now, put one arm around my waist, and the other in my hand. Let me lead. Purebloods are taught to dance at a young age."

Harry obliged, and to his horror, found that the first song the band played was a strange, metal version of Beethoven's Ode to Joy. Daphne smirked as she led him around the dance floor in a super-fast paced version of the Waltz to match the music. She outright laughed when he finally fell on his face. He got up with a growl, to which she replied, " You actually did pretty good there Potter. Held on pretty nicely."

Harry scowled. The next song was " Never gonna Give you up" by Rick Astley. Given that it was one of Dumbledore's personal favorites from 1989, he had taught Harry the dance to go along with it. Daphne laughed, " I sometimes wonder why that song was a best seller in 1989, but with all the trash coming out of America these days, small wonder."

As it turned out, no one had been lying about Remus Lupin being a drummer, because he played it all, fast or slow, double or single bass. Either way, soon it was time for an interlude. That meant interaction with the rest of the people there. Great.

That was when Harry was hailed by someone, " Oh, so you're Harry Potter."

Harry shouted back, " You sound disappointed. "

He felt a soft hand on his shoulder, and spun around. The girl looking at him could only be described as a female version of him, except significantly more attractive than he believed himself to be. She had steely grey eyes. She said, " Hello Harry. I'm Annalisa. Your cousin."

She spoke with a halting voice, like she was taking her time to properly annunciate every syllable in every word she said. Like Umbridge had done with Hagrid last year. So he asked, " A particular reason you are talking that way? It makes you sound immensely dense."

She recoiled slightly, and it turned out that the boy she had come with was the number one man he hadn't wanted to see right now. Draco Malfoy. Harry frowned immediately, " Hello Draco. I never thought you would date a Potter."

Draco gave a 'Snape' sneer, " Unlike you, this one is prim and proper. Like a true Pureblood. You know, one who didn't have a mudblood for a mother."

Harry glared at Draco, " I find it rather hard to believe that Neville even let you through the door."

Draco snorted, " Only after the squib bastard had his grandmother put these weird bonds on me to stunt my magic, and he took my wand too. But like I said, you aren't worthy enough to be here."

Harry smirked arrogantly, " At least I have a mother. According to the records, you don't have a mother anymore, since Narcissa Black lives with me now."

Draco glared, " Shut up about my mother, Potter. The Dark Lord will teach you."

" To do what? Buy hookers? If I had a knut for every time one of you Death Eater said that, I'd be rich. Wait? What's that? I'm already rich! So I guess I was right,", Harry jeered, making gestures at Malfoy. Daphne saw what was going on, and asked, " Potter? What's going on…oh I see. Hello Draco."

Malfoy's smirk widened to a grin, " Oh, hello Daphne. How's the family doing?"

Harry sent a small glance at Daphne, who was holding true to her Ice Queen Persona. But some cracks had already appeared. He needed to get Draco the hell out of there. " Draco, why don't you go dance with your girlfriend? You know, get out of my hair?"

But Harry knew Draco wouldn't leave that easy. One had to be absolutely stoic around him. Otherwise, if he found a single reaction, he would just hammer away at that until you did what he wanted. Harry had figured out that Draco generally wanted Harry to attack him, though why, he would never guess. But if he decided to hammer Daphne about her family, given that Draco was probably a Death Eater himself now, things could get nasty.

But that was when Harry's cousin decided to add fuel, " So you're Daphne Greengrass. I thought the last daughter of a respectable pureblood family would have better tastes than my cousin here."

Harry put his arm in between the two, " Hey now, let's keep this discussion between me, you, and Draco. "

Annalisa smirked at Harry, " Learn your place, Half-Blood. You may be Lord Potter, but we will find a way to take that from you eventually."

Harry clenched his fist, " I dare you to try."

Annalisa turned a faint shade of pink, " Challenge accepted, Harry Potter."

Feeling the situation diffused, Harry was about to leave with Daphne when someone else came in. The man was decisively taller than Harry, several inches taller than Ron. Daphne gasped when she looked between the man and Harry. The family resemblance was TOO obvious. Harry looked just like his father, and apparently, his father's younger brother looked just like James Potter. Only much more physically impressive.

Harry frowned deeply, " Good evening, Uncle."

The man stiffly bowed, " Lord Harry Potter. I guess you know that I am your uncle Henry?"

" Indeed. It was an….interesting…surprise to say the least."

Henry held out his hand, " Believe me, if I had known you were being raised by good for nothing Muggles, I would have done something about it. But, I was unable to do so."

" It may have been for the best that you did not interfere. Granted, I've been through hell and back, but I am a hardened man as thanks for it. Not a soft, pureblood brat like some blond haired ponces are."

Malfoy flushed red and glared at Harry in anger. Harry smiled gloatingly at the brilliant example of his words standing right in front of him. His uncle, on the other hand, didn't think so, " I believe that Draco here is a perfect example of what purebloods should strive to be. Rich, influential, and rather charming. Better than you at any rate. Hardened, scrawny, an eyesore to say the least. I honestly don't know what you did to get a Greengrass to come to this with you, but I might just give consideration to reporting you for the use of Love Potions."

_Now I see why he and my father didn't get along. _ Harry thought angrily. " Think it might just be natural? After all, I heard my father was a bit of hearthrob himself. You jealous of that?"

Given his uncle's sudden flash of anger, he WAS jealous of that. While not legendary like Sirius had been, James Potter was pretty well known in the 'Unofficial Hogwarts Book of Love.' The book kept an updating, detailed list of how many girls the most popular men had taken to bed, as well as personal bios for the most legendary.

Henry looked at Daphne, who was showing a little anger, " Start thinking with that head of your yours missy. Otherwise, you might just meet the fate of the rest of your family."

Harry grabbed Daphne's shoulder, whispering, " Not here."

Annalisa smirked at Harry, " Well, I'll be going,", she turned to Daphne, " Good luck with Potter, Greengrass. He has a way of getting the people around him killed though. Unless you're eager to meet your family in the afterlife….."

Harry felt the air crackle. It took him a moment to realize that Daphne had attacked his cousin, sending her sprawling across the floor. A nasty gash ran across Annalisa's front. Harry looked around, seeing the situation was about to get out of hand, he grabbed Daphne, and moved her out of the Manor. He forced her to take the Port key back to Potter Manor, and he remained behind to clean up. Neville shouted, " Go Harry! I got this under control!"

Harry nodded, turning right back around, and leaving. He had to take the Knight Bus though, that was the bad thing. When he got off just outside of the wards, he quickly rushed towards the entrance. When he opened the door, he saw that Daphne had trashed the place. Dobby was ecstatic to see Harry, but Azerith was pissed, muttering, " More work for Azerith. Master must learn to keep that girl under control."

Harry sent a glare to his head, yet fiercely independent, elf. He moved up to the second floor, and found Daphne blasting his bookcase apart with a blasting hex. Harry shouted, " Daphne! Calm down."

" Calm down? Calm down?"

Harry flinched as she dashed towards him, and he was almost thrown off his feet by a vicious smack to his face. Feeling his own anger rise, he pressed his cold hand against his right cheek. It stung like crazy, a burning sensation that he couldn't discern from actual pain, or bruised pride. Daphne was practically screaming as she trashed his bedroom.

" That bitch! How can she talk so casually about something like this? Hell, she still has BOTH of her parents and a sister who she gets along with! It isn't like she had to sit in a vault with the rotting corpses of everyone she ever knew in her whole life!"

Harry bellowed, " DAPHNE! Sit down!"

She rounded on him, " And where do you get off? You should have let me teach the bitch a lesson! You saw how she is! She's just a female version of Draco! With black hair and the Potter last name!"

Harry yelled back, " And I don't count them as family either! Just like I never counted the Dursleys as family."

" Like you give a damn anyway, your just like all those other idiots in the school. I can tell you don't like your cousins and uncle, but that isn't enough. Almost indifference. That was absolutely embarrassing. As though my name needed anymore trampling in the mud, I got carried out of a Ball by Harry Potter of all people, for losing my temper."

Harry sneered, " I kept you from ending up in Azkaban, and you know it. You were going to kill her. No one knows anger like me, Dumbledore can attest to that. I blew his office to pieces at the end of last year in a fit of rage."

" I would rather have killed her, and ended up in Azkaban, than what happened. Do you have any idea what's going to happen to me at school? With Draco there, that changes the whole ball game. He'll be at school, practically shouting, ' Yeah, Daphne is fucking Potter now. ' Do you have any idea what that will cause them to do to me in Slytherin? It was hard enough with the whole Ice Queen thing. Now, Crabbe, Goyle, all the others will be lining for the chance to have a go at ' Potter's Whore!'"

Harry felt the temperature in the room drop, " Being Potter's Whore is better than being at Azkaban, where the Dark Lord's probably going to be breaking out all of those I got locked up at the end of last year. Personally, I don't think Crabbe, Goyle, Montague, or any of the others will be much of a problem for you. Hell, you held them off for five years already!"

" Yeah, but that was different! At least I could always count on Blaise or Tracey being there to back me up if one of them decided that my hexes weren't a sufficient deterrent. Especially if they decide to get physical with me, or I lose my wand. I'm not the strongest human being on the planet, and I don't know if you've noticed, but we have some borderline trolls in Slytherin,", she shouted sounding almost desperate.

Harry made a mental note to send a letter to Dumbledore about getting Daphne out of Slytherin Dorms. She had a good point. Tall, yet slender and with a petite figure, Daphne looked more like a traditional Pureblood wife ( for which he used Narcissa as a comparing point) and less like the intimidating Ice Queen every time he looked at her. She was a borderline blade of grass compared to Crabbe, or even worse, Goyle. Harry asked, " I've often wondered about that. Why are you pureblood women so slender and petite? I mean, with a few exceptions like Katie Bell and Cho Chang, most of you have no muscle whatsoever."

Daphne scowled, " Sorry if that isn't your taste, Harry, but most purebloods aren't like Ginny Weasley. We're bred to be stay at home housewives or beautiful trophy wives. At most, we go out to bribe the local politicians and aid in our husbands' schemes. There are….severe ramifications for trying to trying to gain muscle mass. Most pureblood families view it as a sign of rebelliousness. Certainly you've seen Narcissa Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange. Compare their figures. Who was the more athletic one?"

Harry thought for a moment, " Hands down, Bellatrix."

" Exactly, and look what she was. A blood thirsty maniac who's deviant activities resulted in the deaths or insanity of at least a hundred people. Look at Dorea Black, your grandmother via the Potter line. She was of healthy figure, and her family hated her for marrying a Potter. Another great example is Molly Weasley. Granted, she hasn't exactly aged well, but when she was young, she was a fire bomb. Yeah, she was whore, but she was beautiful whore at that. I've seen pictures of her. But she was also a wild thing that played Quidditch, participated in Dueling clubs, etc ,etc."

Harry frowned, " So that means all the times I heard Molly bitching to Ginny about not being a proper lady was pure hypocrisy. But also well founded from personal experience. However, I don't see how any of this validates your previous arguments…"

Daphne scowled, " I would have thought that hanging around Granger would have taught you that Logic has no place in the Wizarding world. Tradition oriented pureblood families will use any means necessary to reinforce their views. I sometimes really wish you had been raised by a Wizard family. I feel like I'm talking to a brick wall trying to explain these things to you."

Harry smiled slightly, " Sometimes a brick wall is better than nothing. After all, why would Hermione Granger be even remotely interested in Ron Weasley if it wasn't?"

" Because she has no better alternative?"

Harry flipped his hair with his right hand, " Not anymore, unless she fancies some of the other Weasleys. Everyone at school, except me and the Weasleys, thinks she's an insufferable know-it-all. And thanks to a little bit of bandwagon riding, she's officially burnt her bridge to me."

" That's something that never ceases to amaze me."

" What?"

Daphne looked Harry seriously, " That Granger is such a sheep. No offense to your former friend intended, but I guess she's never heard of standing up for herself at all. Has she?"

Harry shrugged, " To be honest, I really don't know much about Hermione outside of the fact that she, with Ron, was my best friend for five years. More like my only friend. I only just recently found out she lives at Number 21 Steel Magnolia Avenue. Her parents are dentists who are real sticklers for regulations. That's about it. Oh, and she has a decent figure as well. "

" You're lying about that last part, Harry. You thought her attractive didn't you? "

Harry smirked, " Not anymore."

" What changed?"

" Lots of things. Most notable though, was her sudden interest in Ron before the DOM battle. To me, that completely changed the game around. You see, me and Ron kind of had a thing going over who could get a girlfriend first, and he was sour about me beating him with Cho. Given how that worked out, I think maybe I should have just lost that battle. I only think Ron pulled that just to get Hermione to notice him after that Yule Ball in fourth year."

Daphne chuckled, " Yeah, the Patils weren't the only ones you and Ronald pissed off that night. I got to listen to Chang bitch about you staring at her like a dog in a butcher's shop all night during an infirmary visit. I got to listen to Granger complaining in Ancient Runes about Ron being a jealous git. Appears he wouldn't let her and Krum get some alone time the entire Yule Ball."

Harry smiled back at Daphne, " What about you? I know you didn't go to the Yule Ball, but why?"

Daphne blushed, " I…uh…I couldn't get a date."

" That's a really bad lie Daphne. And here you accuse me of being a bad liar."

Daphne blushed further, " Alright! Blaise went with Tracey. I absolutely refused to go with Malfoy or any of the other trash in Slytherin. And despite all the school rumors, the rest of the school seems to refuse to acknowledge me as even being decent looking. I've never been asked by anyone outside of Slytherin, save for a couple of Ravenclaws. But it's because of their damn perseverance that I earned my nickname."

" You really liked Blaise Zabini didn't you?"

If it were possible, Daphne was starting to reach Weasley red, " W-What?"

" It is really kind of obvious. I mean, I've listened to you scream in your dreams before, and when it isn't Tracy or your little sisters, it's Blaise. I can count on one hand how many times you've mentioned your parents. Or any of the others who were at that party. Kind of obvious what it was really for. A traditional negotiation between three houses over a single male taking two daughters hands in marriage."

Daphne's eyes went very wide. Harry smirked, " Hit it on the head didn't I?"

She didn't reply. Harry nodded, " I take that as a yes. I may not be a genius, and my grades may falter due to bad influences, but there is a reason I had to sell my soul to get the Sorting Hat not to put me in Slytherin."

" WHAT?"

Harry laughed, " Ok, so maybe I didn't sell my soul. But between Hagrid, Draco Malfoy, and Ron Weasley, my opinion of House Slytherin wasn't very high when I first arrived at Hogwarts. Both Hagrid and Ron were like preachers to the crowd about how only evil comes from Slytherin. Meeting Draco just sealed the deal."

Daphne gave an "Oh,", at Harry's explanation. She continued, " Yes, you were right. The party was supposed to be in honor of me and Tracey getting engaged to Blaise. All of the other people were just friends my dad and mum knew from school. But my sisters took issue with that, namely Astoria, and 'accidently' mentioned it to Draco Malfoy in a letter about three weeks prior to it happening. Since you put his father behind bars, and severed his connection to his mother all in the sequence of a few weeks, he was desperate for something. Astoria took a lot of pleasure in gloating about it to me. She was telling me about how my two way relationship with Tracey and Blaise was an abomination of nature and should have been purged. She was angry at Father for allowing it, and even worse at mother for promoting it."

Harry grabbed a glass of water, and gulped it down. He asked, " Something else that's always kind of bothered me ever since I heard about it. Most wizards and witches, pureblood or not, all seem to get married really early. That doesn't make sense. I mean, teenagers don't exactly know when we are in love do we?"

Daphne shrugged, " I don't know why exactly. Amongst the purebloods, it's tradition for marriage contracts and negotiation to take place while the children are young. Typically, the contracts are agreed upon before the children are even five years old. In some cases, even born. I've heard of contracts that were centuries of years old that suddenly went into effect for unknown reasons. After the contracts are negotiated, those involved would then be paired together from a young age. Not so young that you would develop friendly feelings that would prevent you from loving your partner, but say eleven or so. Just before you would go to Hogwarts. I think Neville Longbottom has a contract with Hannah Abbott."

Harry raised an eyebrow, " So that's why she was really the only girl he's ever spoken to. I've heard rumors that some of the DA female members had taken a liking to him after his performances and improvement, but he never acted on them. Then again, Hannah was the girl I remember seeing crying for her mother the first time I got on the train."

Daphne looked him with a strange look, " People change, Harry."

Harry reminisced a little, " Yes they do don't they? Consider me to be a great example."

" Why?"

Harry smirked slightly, " Well, when I first found out about magic, I lived in a fucking cupboard under the stairs with three muggles who were more than happy to work me like a house elf. Coming to Hogwarts, however bitchy it's been, has always seemed like a ready and willing refuge. Between Voldemort, well, and Voldemort using someone else as proxy, my school life has been split between trying to hold the fences together with a muggleborn who is floundering in a world she isn't familiar with, and a pureblood who partakes in deviant acts, and, while normally quite loyal, has a penchant for being rather jealous. The rest has been spent fighting Voldemort, a Basilisk, dementors, deadly tournaments, and Umbridge. I lead a charmed life to say the least."

Daphne laughed, " Yes you do Harry. Remember something you said a week or so ago? The whole ' explore other girls thing?'"

Harry smiled slightly, " I still stand by that. Though I have a good feeling I'm going to get scorned by my peers when I return to school."

" Then why bother?"

Harry blushed a little, " Rushing things are we, Daphne? About ten minutes ago, you were ready to kill me for not letting you kill my cousin. Now you want to be my girlfriend?"

" Are you rejecting me?"

Harry thought for a moment, " I'm putting you on hold. Think about it though. That would only make your situation in Slytherin almost deadly, and mine in Gryffindor a significant pain in the ass."

" I can understand that. Damn it, am I using Potter's logic?"

Harry laughed, before walking over to one of the cabinets that was undamaged. He pulled out an electric guitar, " I decided to take up guitar as a hobby over these last few weeks since my father was a guitarist in Stubby and the Nuclear Marauders. With the help of an cognizance charm, I've learned in record time. I might like modern music, but I prefer to play classic rock. Got anything you want to hear?"

Daphne laughed at him, " I'm a Pureblood Harry! What part of ' Bred to be a trophy wife with no Muggle influences' don't you understand? I'm just joking. Can you play ' Lights' by Journey? "

" Done."

With that, Harry turned his amp up, and cut into the song. Meanwhile…..

25-2-6-7-8-89-9-9-87-65-4-45-5-674-8-9-97-8-67-868-5-8-57-867-8-6785-79-59-79-8-8

( Hogwarts)

" How's the hand progressing, Severus?"

Snape looked up from the stub that was once Albus Dumbledore's left hand, " It has progressed well, Albus. The curse is completely gone. I am, quite frankly, stunned that such a lowly and muggle solution actually worked."

Dumbledore gave a grandfather smile, " I admit, I had my doubts as well, Severus. What information do you have on the Dark Lord?"

Snape took a deep breath, " He has ordered Draco Malfoy to kill you."

" An impossible task for such a lowly brat to accomplish I assure you. I would have to be on more drugs than Ozzy Osbourne to allow him to sneak up on me. And I mean high as a kite."

Snape said, " Before she was exiled from the Malfoy family, Narcissa forced me into an Unbreakable vow with Bellatrix as the bonder to help him."

" Since she is no longer a Malfoy, and Mrs. Lestrange is no longer amongst the living, you will find that Vow to be negated. Nonetheless, if you tried to kill me Severus, I shudder to think what would happen to you."

Snape glared, but shuddered as well, " I agree, Albus."

They were interrupted by a small flash of golden light, and another green light from one of Dumbledore's instruments. The lights flickered near each other, before falling back down. Severus raised an eyebrow, " What was that?"

Dumbledore looked grave, " It appears that Harry and Daphne's magics recognize each other. "

Snape raised both eyebrows, " Is this a soul bond?"

Dumbledore frowned, " No it isn't. If anything, something more lethal and tempestuous. Unlike a soul bond, after committing, they may still reject each other. However, doing so would be very painful for either of them. "

Snape looked at Dumbledore, " So, who did what?"

Dumbledore examined the instrument, " Well, it appears that young Harry is the one who is refusing. I don't know why, but he is. This has actually happened a couple of times, generally involving Ms. Greengrass' nightmares. Since Harry is experienced in dealing with post traumatic nightmares, he has no doubt helped her a lot."

Snape frowned, " That only reinforces the boy as being arrogant. If it is so obvious, then why would he refuse?"

Dumbledore pulled a sly grin, " Why don't you ask that same question of Lily Evans then eh? After all, you two had matching magic, and yet she ended up with James Potter."

Snape darkened, " Do not bring that up, Albus. It was my mistake. Whilst I have never come to grips with it, I do my best to atone for it."

"By tormenting her son? Really Severus, you need to come up with better lines."

Snape flushed with anger, but refused to comment on anything other than, " The wound is healing. Good night, Albus."

Dumbledore muttered to himself after Serverus left, " That guy really needs to get his head out of his ass. Well, he needs to start thinking more with his dick, and less with his brain. Maybe if he had found another by now, he would have gotten over losing Lily to James. Then again, that was all his fault. He just HAD to call her a mudblood. Dumbass. He was the only friend Lily had for the first two years of Hogwarts, and yet never once tried to capitalize on it. Interestingly, I find Hermione Granger's situation to be rather similar."

Dumbledore continued to chuckled to himself until he pulled out his diary, and scratched off the Ring. He looked down at the stone from the ring. It certainly was what he thought it was. And he intended to use it as needed. For none tell truer tales than the dead.

* * *

><p>AN: I've decided to move Review responses to the end of the chapters, so as to not distract the readers prior.

Sweet Heavens: Purebloods knowing Muggle Culture is something I kind of borrowed from zArkham's" _HP and the Rejected Path"_ where he states that Narcissa would often sneak off to watch Muggle films. While I don't necessarily think a normal person would sneak off to watch Kids, maybe a pureblood witch who doesn't know anything about ratings or such would. Dumbledore's just kind of an eccentric exception to the rule. The Music thing though, is something I came up with because Wizard Music is apparently not that impressive. Plus, tradition and attitude aside, you would think they would know SOMETHING about the Muggle world. ( Of course, Arthur Weasley butchering the word electricity, and Auror pathetic attempts at disguising themselves tell us differently.)

References

Classic Rock Bands: All of those bands were doing tours or releasing albums throughout the eighties.

Blind Guardian, Helloween, Heaven's Gate: The First Three Power metal bands. All three from Germany. Helloween and Heaven's Gate formed in 1985. Blind Guardian had been touring under the name Lucifer's Heritage prior to 1987. I also believe that Stratovarius was formed in 1987.

The Wolves of Perdition: A joke name based off of Opeth's Ghosts of Perdition. Wolves of course, being for Lupin being a werewolf.

Ode To Joy: Don't know why, but performing metal versions of classical music like Mozart and Beethoven seems to be the "in" thing with Power Metal bands like Dark Moor, Kamelot, Heavenly, and Dragonland.

Turili Luccasson: A tribute to Italian Guitarist Luca Turili ( Rhapsody of Fire, Luca Turili, Luca Turili's Dreamscape). This guy's pretty beast, probably one of the top three guitarists in the world, behind Timo Tolki ( Ex-Stratovarius, Symfonia) and Syu ( Galneryus), maybe Steve Vai, and certainly ahead of Herman Li ( Ex Demoniac, Dragon Force).

Rick Astley: " Never Gonna Give You Up" or more commonly known these days as " Rick Roll" was released in 1989. It was atop Billboards Pop/rock listings for a few months.


	4. Chapter 4 Prelude of Things To Come

Chapter 3 Prelude of Things to Come

There was a decisively cool turn to the air as September the First arrived, and with it, the annual Hogwarts Express trip. Harry could feel that this winter was going to be a rough one down in England, much less what it was going to be like in _Scotland._ Daphne was berating him for calling her Daphne instead of the traditional Greengrass.

"Remember, we aren't supposed to refer to ourselves with our first names, _Potter._"

Harry leered at Daphne, " Like you care anyway. Draco's already pissed it all out to the Slytherins anyhow. "

A voice shouted, " Hey, there's Harry!"

Harry cursed and hastily threw his trunk up on the train, and hustled off to find a compartment where the idiots wouldn't find him. He found a compartment near the front of the train, just behind the prefects carriage. He sank down into the chair and began to muse silently. He wanted to ensure a safe and easy trip, so he pulled out his invisibility cloak and threw it over him. Harry slept the entire train ride to school.

Meanwhile, in another section of the train, Daphne was dealing with Ronald Weasley, " Listen Weasley, get it through your thick skull that Potter's a little like Dumbledore. You won't find him unless he wants you to find him."

Hermione grabbed Ron's shoulder before he could yell something back that might get him into some real trouble, " Calm down Ron! I told you asking Daphne was a bad idea anyway."

Daphne scowled at Hermione, " Why's that, Granger?"

She was answered by a series of scowls deeper than her own, as Hermione and Ginny basically drug Ron into a compartment. She took a moment to stand outside with her ear against the door, an eavesdropping technique she had learned when she first heard that her father had been trying to negotiate marriage contracts for her.

Ron's voice shouted loudly, " Where do you get off Hermione? I thought for sure at least you would be able to get something from her!"

Hermione replied, " RON! She's the Ice Queen of Slytherin! That doesn't mean much to you, but she's basically unapproachable to anyone in this entire school! Even other girls! But maybe if you just got your head out of your ass, you wouldn't have so much trouble talking to girls period!"

Daphne chuckled as she pulled her ear away from the door.

* * *

><p>Later…..<p>

Harry had enough time to hear the compartment door open and sling off the Invisibility Cloak, before Draco Malfoy entered it.

" Well, well, well. Looks like we found a Potter asleep."

Harry grumbled, " Fuck, Draco. What the hell are you doing here?"

" Why do you think?"

"How did you find me?"

Malfoy smirked, "Couldn't find you anywhere else, so we decided to look for a conspicuously empty compartment. Lo and behold."

Harry closed his eyes, bored, "I really don't feel like dealing with you, Malfoy. I'm certain you've got better things to be doing right now."

Malfoy cocked an eyebrow, "Not like you to be civil, Potter. Anyway, where's the Ginger and the Mudblood at?"

"Do I looked like I know? Probably the back of the train. That's where we always sat at any rate. Go torture some minions why don't you?"

Malfoy chuckled, "Oh, you'd like that, wouldn't you? I need to pay you back for that travesty this summer."

"Live, learn, die, and forget it all, Draco. Spend less time in the past, and you might have a future."

Malfoy's face fell faster than a boulder on Everest, "What was that, Potter?"

Harry snarled as he turned away, "Didn't hear it the first time, it isn't worth hearing. "

Malfoy reached for his wand, before a familiar, high voice, yelled, "Leave it, Draco! Let Harry have his victory for now."

The familiar, and detested, visage of his magical cousin appeared in the doorway. She sneered at Harry, "Enjoy your victory now, Harry, for it will soon belong to us."

"Remind me when to care, alright? Now leave, we can continue our conflicts at Hogwarts."

The rest of the voyage went swiftly. With nothing to distract him, Harry found himself idly making it snow in other compartments, specifically the Prefect's compartment, and anyone else he could think of. That meant that people like Cho Chang were having a fairly cold journey.

It wasn't until he ran into Susan Bones on the way off the train, that he found out that Slughorn had been trying to find him the entire journey for some little sojourn in his private suite. He snorted out a laugh, remembering how he had antagonized the returning Potions Master who looked like he might be slightly related to Uncle Vernon.

Taking a seat on one of the Thestral carriages, he took a survey of the atmosphere. Maybe the Wizarding world was finally coming to grips with the fact that the supposedly impossible return of Lord Voldemort, had really happened. Unfortunately, cool as the atmosphere was, his corporate takeover of Weasley Wizarding Wheezes had turned him into the villain of the school once more.

It was uncommonly cold, he could give it that, but he could feel the heat coming off of the glares some of the students were sending him. Many of the Gryffindors had been to W3 over the summer break, to be highly impressed by the innovative merchandise. Same with many Hufflepuffs. They had been sorely disappointed when the shop was shut down. Then came the purebloods, who knew everything, telling them who was behind the takeover.

The Gryffindors, Hufflepuffs, and some Ravenclaws hated him, but a few of the Slytherins actually applauded him for it. Sure, it wasn't the boldest or most audacious move, but he still had brought down one of the most promising businesses in Diagon Alley. He smirked as he thought of the hell he was surely going to take in the Common Room.

Soon, they reached the disembark point for the carriages. Harry got off with an grunt, and walked into the significantly warmer, though still drafty, Entrance Hall. He followed the crowd into the Great Hall, and took an isolated seat at the Gryffindor Table. Well, isolated for now, because it was where the newly sorted First Years would sit after their Sorting.

To Harry, the only semi-interesting Sorting would be that of his Cousin, Annalisa. Despite how highly amusing it would be to see her Sorted into Hufflepuff, he seriously doubted that she would end up anywhere but Slytherin. It would surprise him at any rate. Still, he didn't know much about her, and he didn't want to learn more about her either.

Slowly, the Hall filled to the brim with returning students. He caught a glimpse of Daphne taking a seat amongst what remained of the Slytherin Sixth Year that wasn't a Death Eater in Training. Which, wasn't much. Harry noticed, to his displeasure, that Malfoy was gesturing in his direction. No doubt trying to get him going about some mundane thing. That's when Harry noticed someone else.

Seated amongst the Fourth Year Slytherins, was an older looking girl. Harry looked back and forth between Daphne and the girl. They were almost complete opposites. The girl was tall for her age, compared to Daphne being short. She had jet black hair with an obsidian sheen. Both were Pureblood pale, as Harry called the regal, alabaster white skin that most Purebloods had. Her eyes were soft, turquoise blue.

It took him a moment, but he figured that the two were sisters. Then that meant that the younger one was Astoria Greengrass. For obvious reasons, Daphne never talked about her younger sister. Harry, however, got the distinct vibe that the two were once very close, but something had forced them apart in their past. Something had forced the two apart, to the point that Daphne was willing to join Harry, and Astoria was willing to become a Death Eater. Whatever it was, it surely was a dark secret that would come to air at an inopportune time.

The Sorting Hat sang it's song, with the same general warning as usual. In unity, victory. In division, defeat. Dumbledore stood up, and most of the Hall gasped in surprise at his missing left hand. He announced, "Prior to our annual Sorting, I have a couple of related announcements to make."

Harry chuckled as he heard Ron groan audibly from hunger. Even from the far side of the table, it was obvious who was the dissenter. Dumbledore ignored Ron's protest, "For the first time in centuries, this is the first time we shall have students who are not First Years Sorted. For those unfamiliar with our history, the last transfer student that we had was a little known man from St. Etienne's. St. Etienne's is a small, though elite, school in Southern France, near Marseille. His name, was Alexander Sinclair."

Harry snorted when he heard Hermione gasp with understanding. Some of the more knowledgeable Purebloods nodded as well. Sinclair was the first wizard to develop the ability to Apparate.

Dumbledore continued his announcements, "The senior students shall be sorted after the First Years. Now, if you would, Professor McGonagall?"

And so it began. Harry ignored the Sorting for the most part. There were a very paltry few Sorted into Gryffindor. Only two people were sorted into Gryffindor. It was the lowest since 1939, when no one was sorted into Gryffindor. Then the older Sorting began.

The three Lucasson children were all sorted into Ravenclaw. That's when the fun began. Harry's cousin took the Hat next. The hat remained silent on Annalisa's head. Soon, the Hall began to buzz with conversation, most of the students getting impatient. Suddenly, the Hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry's fist hit the table with a noticeable thud. Annalisa passed out from the shock. Harry shouted, "There is no way I'm going to be in the same House as that bitch!"

Dumbledore frowned at Harry, "Kindly watch your language, Mr. Potter."

The Gryffindor table looked at each other nervously as McGonagall levitated her newest member out of the Hall. Dumbledore stood back up to make another announcement, "In light of current events, I am enacting a Forced Cooperation Act. All Houses will be required to perform _non hostile_ activities with each other. Several new clubs will be formed. Hopefully, this can alleviate some of the discontent that has so plagued this school. I admit, that I have had a hand in fostering this dissent, now is not the time."

Finally, he declared to the Hall, "_And the Day Shall Come Again_."

Harry immediately lifted his head. That line, from Tolkien's Silmarillion, was the code that he and Dumbledore had decided on. It meant, "_Meet me in my office after the Feast. There is news."_

Then the food appeared. Nibbling on some chicken, he observed the Hall. Most of the Hall seemed unfazed by the recent events, but there was certainly a lingering sense of foreboding. He noticed Draco messing with his shoulder. He ignored a small buzz of pain from his scar, and continued eating. Finally, the Feast ended, and Dumbledore finished his announcements.

"Before I let you go, I shall inform you that we have some staff changes. Horace Slughorn has graciously returned to his previous post as Potions Master."

Ron blinked in confusion, "_Potions Master?"_

Dumbledore smiled at the confusion, "I would also like to announce that Severus Snape will be our Defense Against the Dark Arts professor this term. I thank you for your time, and Good Night!"

He clapped his hands and the students promptly jumped up to go to bed. All except Harry, that was, who lingered in the Hall for a moment. Then, after seeing Dumbledore leave, he left.

* * *

><p><strong>(Dumbledore's Office)<strong>

"Well, gentlemen, and I use that term lightly, we have a potential situation on our hands." Professor McGonagall declared to everyone present. That everyone present, included the Aurors who were defending Hogwarts, and most of the Staff, plus Harry.

Dumbledore pressed his wand to one of his newer instruments. A smoky tactical map appeared of a location that Harry didn't recognize. Luckily, Moody solved the riddle quickly, "That's Abbott Manor."

Dumbledore smiled, "Correct, old friend. Our intelligence suggests that there will be a raid on the Manor within a few days. Given the….erroneous nature our previous Defense mission, I feel that a little preemptive fortification is in order."

Harry added, "So we're going to 'Head them off at the pass' so to speak?"

"Exactly. Unfortunately, due to the new school year, we will not be able to spare our normal strength. Moody, you will command the Aurors at the school in my place. Minerva, you shall command the school. You will make an excuse for Mr. Potter to be absent from his classes."

McGonagall muttered, "Very well, so long as he finds a way to make up the work."

Dumbledore chuckled, "I think he will do fine. Now, Nymphadora and Remus are already in the field, with our remaining forces. We should go soon."

He pulled out a crumpled sock that looked like it had been a Portkey more than once in its time, and muttered, "_Portus."_

"Grab on Harry. Time you took your second trial."

Reluctantly, yet still with eager anticipation, Harry grabbed the Portkey. A familiar jerk behind the navel, and off they went.

* * *

><p>(<strong>Staging Area)<strong>

Harry came out of the Portkey swirl on his feet for once. Tonks muttered out, "Wotcher Harry. Nice to see you didn't come out on your bum this time."

Harry chuckled lightly, "I've been working on my entrances. Dumbledore says he can't have his apprentice coming out of the Floo and Portkeys like a drunk House Elf."

"And I'm absolutely right, Harry." Dumbledore said nonchalantly, "You still need some work, but you're getting there."

Harry hummed in mock anger for a moment. Dumbledore's appearance quickly got the attention of all the Order members gathered. Lupin, looking like a disheveled werewolf again, reported in, "Alright, everyone's here. So, this is a camp mission?"

Dumbledore nodded, "Exactly, Remus. We're doing active surveillance for the next few days, with the hopes that we can get the Abbotts enough warning to escape. Severus says that Tom is targeting this location for some reason. He wants to store something. I have good reason to believe he may be coming himself."

Lupin paled slightly, "You mean we might be fighting the Dark Lord?"

Tonks tried to lighten the mood, "Ready when you are Professor!"

She failed quite spectacularly, as both Hestia Jones and Daedalus Diggle looked more than hesitant about facing off with the Dark Lord. Even Lupin was looking less than enthusiastic. Harry thought, _Hell, who can blame them?_

Dumbledore continued to lay on the depressing news, "Severus said that the strike force will be of Battle Capacity. Meaning we can expect roughly thirty of the Rank and File, with ten Elite support. Forty in total."

It was Harry's turn to gape in astonishment, "Uh, Professor Dumbledore? How are we going to hold off forty Death Eaters **and** Voldemort?"

"If it is any conciliation, I'm here. But, we will need to set up our own defenses. Remember, our job is not to eradicate the Death Eaters that do come, only hold them off." Suddenly, Dumbledore sighed heavily, "Lethal force is authorized for this battle."

That got everyone in the clearing's attention. Dumbledore, who always believed in second chances and atonement, was authorizing lethal force? He looked at everyone there, "I know what you are thinking, and it isn't because of Legilimency. Remember who and what we are fighting for. The situation is similar to the Greengrass one. The Abbotts are hosting several Light affiliated, yet currently neutral, families over, to discuss what they should do. If Tom gets his hands on this crowd, the casualties could be greater than just the families. We're talking our future."

Lupin growled, "That's right, Voldemort's targeting the families that produce a lot of children. Especially the ones who already have children. It's as though…."

"He's saying, 'If I go down, I'm taking you with me.'"

The entire group looked at Harry, who hadn't realized what he had said, until after he had said it. Dumbledore bore a frown on his face, but he replied, "Harry understands the situation as well as anyone. Tom either wants to rule, or he wants to destroy Magical Britain in a way it can never recover. It would take decades, maybe centuries, to rebuild the Magical population via Muggleborns alone, if he eradicates those already alive."

Tonks lost her normally cheerful mood immediately, "I knew You-Know-Who was bad, but is he really willing to destroy us all if he can't rise to power? Even his own?"

"Tom Riddle does not care for those he commands. He does not care for those who grovel helplessly before him. If they get in his way, they are simply another obstacle that must be destroyed for him to achieve his goals. We've seen this before,", Dumbledore replied without his normal twinkle, "He may go out of his way to free those who remain loyal, but that is as far as his own loyalty to them runs."

Lupin decided that it was a good time to change the subject, "Alright, let's stop talking about how hopeless our situation is, and talk more about how we're going to pull this off. So, I'm guessing layered defense?"

Dumbledore smiled for the first time in the area, "Exactly, Remus. As you know, we haven't been able to bring everyone due to varying circumstances. We'll need to split up our better members, and send them off with the weaker members. We'll split into teams of four. In favor of putting up a powerful defense, we shall outline the outer reaches of the estate with runic traps that may be triggered a variety of ways. That is the primary reason have arrived with such advanced notice. Plus, it will give Harry here a little experience with Runes, which I know he has little."

And so the next few days went….

* * *

><p>(Daphne)<p>

The first day of classes was hell on earth for anyone in Slytherin who wasn't a Death Eater in training. Hell, it was bad for everyone all around, but even worse for Slytherin. Malfoy strutted around the Common Room like he owned the place. He did that normally, but there was something about it that was worse than normal.

The Blonde Prince wasn't a Prefect anymore, that honor belonged to a third fifth year, but it didn't affect his authority much. If anything, he had more now than when he had been a Prefect. Crabbe and Goyle had clearance to do anything to anyone who didn't do as Malfoy said, so Daphne always made it a prerogative to get out of the Common Room before everyone else woke up. Even if that meant waking up at four.

Her teachers made comments about her early morning wanderings, but none of them had punished her. At least, thus far. Snape may have been Head of Slytherin, but he was looking down on many of them more than normal. Daphne was included in that group.

Well know was the fact that if you were an intelligent student, then Snape would be slightly easier on you than others, except for insufferable Gryffindors. He never had patience for those. But, as of late, the new Defense teacher/ former Potions Master, had gone out of his way to torment anyone who Draco seemed to take offense to.

Which was nearly everyone these days. If Malfoy didn't have a legion of enemies already, he certainly did now. But, he also had a legion of followers to go with it. Maybe it was her lack of contact with the rest of the Pureblood families during the summer, but Daphne swore that Millicent and Pansy hadn't been that good at hexes before break.

Harry had suggested that Daphne keep an eye on her Slytherin classmates, and so she did, making small notes of inconsistencies in their abilities. Harry had been unfortunate enough to fall prey to their petty feuds many times, therefore, he knew their abilities fairly well. Inconsistencies might help determine who was really serious about being Death Eaters.

Daphne made another note in the small book she was carrying of Crabbe using a fairly advanced Flame Spout curse in a feud in the halls that had drawn the attention of the Aurors surrounding the school. That had been impressive. She had a snaking suspicion that there were forces at play that no one understood. Something had been unbound.

Harry had also asked for her to keep an eye on his cousin, who had finally recovered from the shock of being sorted into Gryffindor. Surprisingly, she got along quite well with the Gryffindors. But if Daphne had her own opinion voiced, she believed that Annalisa was playing nice because she had to. Gryffindor was known to be unforgiving to those that it didn't like.

Daphne was currently in the library, when she stumbled across a book. It was one of those Folk Tale books like "_The Tales of Beedle the Bard" _that all Purebloods knew by heart, but Daphne hadn't read this one in a very long time. It was a story about three entities, through which magic was supposed to have originated. Each entity's name was lost to time, but had a symbolic name instead. She checked the book from the library, enduring the stern librarian's glares the whole while.

Once back in the room she had been secured by Dumbledore in the Southern Wing, she opened the book again. Somehow, she felt an eerie feeling that someone else was reading this exact book, and using it for some purpose.

* * *

><p>(Wormtail)<p>

"Milord, we've retrieved that books as you requested. May I ask why you have requested this child's book?"

Peter Pettigrew, better known in all parts as Wormtail, flinched under the glare his Lord sent him. He sank further into a bow, nearly prostrating himself before the Dark Lord. Voldemort, to his surprise, gave him an answer.

"Wormtail, the answer is simple. Archaic knowledge, however outdated it may be, can give us a leg up on our enemies. I want you to distribute the Arcane books to our best warriors. Hopefully, they may learn something from them,", Voldemort hissed from his throne in the Malfoy Manor.

"Mi…Milord?"

"I said that it was simple, Wormtail. Of course, it goes over you. The books I am keeping detail several arcane entities that magic is thought to originate from. It is my idea, to seize control of these entities."

Wormtail lifted his head in enough time to receive a Crucio for his lack of thought. He let out a scream of pain, fell back, and banged his head on the wall. Just as quickly as it began, the pain stopped. It was replaced by the lesser pain of a book hitting his already aching head.

The Dark Lord hissed at the reeling traitor, "I dislike failures, Pettigrew. This is your chance to finally redeem yourself. You've always been decent at Potions. Brew the potions in that book, and find yourself. Then return to me. I've always favored Bella, but if you do this right, you will be my great warrior instead of her."

Awed by the promise of power, Peter scooped up the book, took his leave, and immediately set off for the ingredients needed to brew the potions. A few moments later, in his hellhole of a room, he propped the book open. He smirked as he left to find the first ingredient, something called Eye of the Kraken.

* * *

><p>(Two Days Later…)<p>

"Alright, that should be all of them. Thank you for the assist Harry, the Rune drilling must have really worked."

Harry scowled at Tonks, who was currently sporting her hot pink hair. He coughed slightly, sounding somewhat like Umbridge. Tonks turned to him, chuckling the whole way. She smiled lightly, and declared, "We should report back to Dumbledore. He should be finished with the inner fortifications."

Harry followed her back to the staging area, where Dumbledore was indeed waiting for them. He nodded stiffly at Harry, a sliver of weariness creeping into his face, "Are we finished?"

Harry returned a confirming nod, "The outer fortifications are completed. Where is everyone else?"

"Remus and Hestia are rounding up the families to inform them of their impending peril. We will be meeting them shortly, as well as taking any volunteers to battle alongside of us."

Tonks swallowed nervously as Harry asked, "Can we really expect them to provide us with aid?"

"Notable Purebloods will not want to abandon something that has been in their family for centuries. The Abbotts have lived on this land for centuries. You would find such a situation to be similar with the Potters and many others. They will not give in easily. Perhaps, if they join us in a victory, then we can hearten the people to support us more." Diggle replied in place of Dumbledore.

Dumbledore smiled slightly, "Exactly, Daedalus. In a war such as the one we are facing, public support is everything. Right now, no one wants to fight. They're too busy running or hiding in fear. Can we blame them? No, but Tom's victory is assured if we do not fight him."

"Too many followers, and not enough leaders, I might say. Dumbledore, I must ask, why do we not keep a standing army? I mean, the Muggle world has massive armies that are ready to fight on a moment's notice. U.S. Army Rangers can be deployed anywhere in the world in less than 24 hours." Harry asked, eager to get something that had been bothering him for awhile off his chest.

"Papal Accords of 1774. Wizards are not allowed to form armies of any kind, for any purpose, other than a token defense force. Some countries, like the U.S, can get away with having large Wizard armies. But Old World countries like the U.K can't. Unlike most Muggles, Priests of the Catholic Church are trained to spot signs of magic. There are holy relics that negate the effects of charms like the Fidelius." Tonks answered, surprising everyone in the clearing.

Dumbledore chuckled slightly, "But it requires an official declaration of an Inquisition to be able to use such items. I would think we could get away with a larger corps of Aurors, but the Ministry has been opposed to such measures as long as I can remember."

Harry quirked an eyebrow, "You mean it wasn't just Fudge?"

"Ministers always seem to come from Departments that were unrelated to Defense. In fact, Scrimgeour is the first Minister to come from the DMLE for five centuries. Fudge came, ironically enough, from the Department of The Press. He was, reportedly, one of their best reporters ever."

At that moment, Lupin and Hestia came into the clearing, followed by five or six men, and two women. All the men had blonde hair, and almond brown eyes. The oldest was clearly a grandfather, his hair was silvery white, but bound in a ponytail like the one Bill wore at the World Cup. The next two wore robes with leather like vests under it. Harry recognized the skin, but couldn't remember where he had seen it before. The last two were the youngest of the bunch, probably eldest sons.

Dumbledore shook hands with the oldest, and introduced him to the crowd, "This is Richard Abbott, an old friend of mine, who fought in the War against Grindelwald."

Richard smirked proudly, "I was there when Albus defeated him. I think I can take a few Death Eaters down here in the old age. My specialty is frontline assaults after all."

"Where've you been this whole time?"

Richard didn't look slightly insulted by Harry's blunt question, "I don't like war, and outside of this battle, I doubt I'll be doing much in this one either. Voldemort,", he immediately scowled at the younger members of his family, who all flinched at the Dark Lord's name, "Is nothing compared to Grindelwald."

Dumbledore frowned slightly at Richard, "Tom's more than your average Dark Lord, Richard. He is worth my full attention, which should be enough to get yours."

Richard let out a deep laugh, "I'll be the judge of that. Let us talk of more delightful things, shall we? The boy with the dark hair, that's your Apprentice isn't it?"

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, Harry here is my apprentice."

One of the younger ones piped in, "Harry, as in, Harry Potter?"

Richard looked inquisitively at his grandson, "What's so important about Harry Potter?"

"He's the Boy Who Lived! Guy who defeated Voldemort the first time, when he was just a baby!"

Richard scowled, "Name's just a name, boy."

The youngest looking Abbott, the one who had been arguing, muttered an apology, "Sorry, Harry, but me grand dad has been living under a rock for the last thirty years. Didn't even know who You-Know-Who was until we told him."

Richard's frown deepened, "You call it living under a rock, I call it retirement."

The argumentative one didn't bother to counter, he introduced himself, "Name's Jake, and this is my older brother, Cecil. Don't know how much you talk to Hannah at Hogwarts, but we're her older brothers."

"And I'm her father, the other one is my younger brother, her uncle. My name is Alexander, and he is Godfrey. The two girls over there are his daughters, Lilina and Sarah." The middle looking man said with a bit of a smile.

Harry nodded to each of them, and shook their hands. Dumbledore took back up the briefing, "These fine men and women will be assisting us with the defense of their home. Richard, in fact, has a bit of a reputation as a defensive specialist, despite what he says. He will be deployed in the center, where the hammer will fall hardest."

Richard chuckled, "Defensive specialist, huh? I've forgotten who first called me that. Couldn't have been in the last hundred years."

Harry quirked an eyebrow at the old, but younger than Dumbledore, man, "How old are you?"

"One twenty three, I believe. That doesn't count any that I may have forgotten. Just another day at the office when you get as old as I do. In fact, I think I've forgotten when my birthday is."

Jake smirked, "That's just like him. Forgetting his own birthday. If his head was attached to his body, he'd leave that somewhere too."

"Hey, hey. Just because we had to double back because I forgot my wand, doesn't mean anything."

Cecil spoke up, "Did we mention that he wears those muggle combat boots?"

Godfrey silenced his nephews, "Like all older wizards, he has his quirks."

Dumbledore took this moment to mention, "I'm particularly fond of a scar on my knee that looks like the London Underground."

"Point exactly."

Harry and the other Order members were pretty taken aback at how whimsical the conversation had turned. Given that the majority of them had been fearing for their very lives, the sudden turn had taken them completely by surprise.

Lupin, normally one to sit back and let things take their course, spoke up, "Can we get back to the briefing?"

Tonks interjected, "Yeah, only a little worried about the Death Eaters that are coming."

Richard coughed slightly and Dumbledore resumed the briefing, "I'll be where Tom is, wherever that maybe. No doubt, he will be at the very front. I'll hold him, while the rest of you hold the others. Simple enough, yet sometimes, the simple plans are the best."

Richard smirked confidently, "Alright, let them come. We will be ready, and they will not know what hit them. The cycle of life and death continues. We will live. They will die."

* * *

><p>AN: Apologies for long update times across the board. I'm currently working on NaNoWriMo, so don't expect much more this month.

Harry's Code: _"The Day Shall Come Again" _is the line shouted by Turgon to his brother Fingon as his Elves entered the battlefield of the Nirnath (Battle of the Endless Tears), in the Silmarillion. Hurin also shouted this line as he held the rearguard during the Noldor Retreat. He shouted this line every time he killed one of the trolls of the High Balrog's personal guard. He shouted this line 50 times.


	5. Chapter 5 Hold the Line

Chapter 4 Hold The Line

* * *

><p>Harry, Richard Abbot, and Jake were stationed on the highest balcony of Abbott Manor. The Balcony overlooked undulating fields, upon which the Abbotts normally grew the food that would fill the tables of their dining rooms. But this year, this section of the fields lay fallow to allow the soil to regain fertility.<p>

Dumbledore had decided to build a sort of trench to force the Death Eaters into and then rain down hell upon them from the sides. It had been Richard's responsibility to do so, so that they would have a chokepoint after the Death Eaters breached the first level of defenses.

"Soon," Richard Abbott commented as he, Harry, and Jake stood on the balcony of Abbott Manor.

Harry was shook from his stupor by the sudden comment, "What?"

"Soon, Potter. The enemy will be here soon. Let's go. I've got something for them."

Jake shrugged as his grandfather hustled off, "Hope he realizes that he's going against the strategy by abandoning our higher ground."

"I think he does, I just don't think he cares." Harry added as they ran to follow the surprisingly fast old man.

Suddenly, a vivid green spell lanced across the field. Harry ducked beneath it, and aimed a Stunner in the general direction of the Killing Curse. A large boulder fell from the sky and slammed into that same section of the field. Harry recognized it as one of Tonks' Rune Traps. She was surprisingly adept at Runes, for something that required such concentration at any rate.

"Hey! Wasn't that one of that pink haired girl's traps?"

"Yeah, but keep moving! Never thought an old man would be so damn fast," Harry commented as they hustled after the silver haired Abbott.

"I thought you knew not to underestimate old men by now?"

Harry bristled and declined to reply to Jake's jab. He turned around the corner, and peered over a small fence. A light flashed, and he ducked beneath a Killer. Jake hissed, "You got lucky there, Potter!"

"Tell me about it. See the old man anywhere?"

Jake pointed at a small hill near the center of the field where the fighting was heaviest, "There! He was heading there when I last saw him."

Harry rolled his eyes, "Figures. Here's hoping we run into him later, but let us return to our posts."

"Hell no, Harry! This is my grandfather we're talking about here! He's almost Healer Certified as being insane!"

"And Dumbledore isn't? He strains my ability to say this, but I believe he'll be fine. Whatever he's planning, he obviously knows what it is."

"Stop standing around youngsters, and give me some back-up!"

Harry and Jake spun around to see Richard running in with five Death Eaters in pursuit. The two open with stunners to buy time and get into cover. Three Killers arc over their heads as the remaining Death Eaters lay suppressing fire to revive their downed. Richard joined them as they dashed toward a small trench that had been dug only a few hours earlier.

Harry shouted over the din of battle, "Where have you been?"

Richard replied while shooting a strange crystal at the advancing Death Eaters, "Laying a trap, what else?"

The crystal exploded in a shower of white hot sparks, searing into the land and any Death Eaters unlucky enough to get caught in the blast. Two were unaffected, and quickly retreated, dragging the wounded with them. Harry and Jake tried to ignore the cries of their agony, but Richard seemed to revel in it.

Ignoring the bloodlust of the old man leading their trio, Harry asked, "What spell was that?"

Richard chuckled, "That's an old one I learned from the old man himself over there. The most famous nickname for that spell is Crystal Angel. Quite an ironic name, eh? It's actually a holy spell. Now come, we need to get back to the manor."

The, "Before anyone notices we were gone," was left off. It was a short jog back to the Manor, mostly because the Death Eaters hadn't penetrated that far into the defenses. They still had to keep their heads down to avoid the occasional Killer.

Shortly, they reassumed their posts. However, their absence had not been unmonitored, and a flustered Tonks awaited their return. She hissed, "Dumbledore hopes that you three will learn to obey orders better than this. He says that Harry will have some punitive research applied upon his return to Hogwarts."

"Why are you talking like that Tonks?"

She shrugged, "Dumbledore told me to repeat his words exactly and so I did. Anyway, how was it?"

"Thrilling, I can assure you, Nymphadora. We incapacitated at least three with the Crystal Angel." Richard declared with an aura of triumph.

"What spell is that?" Tonks asked with a bewildered expression.

Harry chuckled behind Tonks," That was our reaction as well. Richard says that it was a holy spell of some sorts."

Tonks glanced at the silver-haired elder who was frowning heavily at them," I wasn't aware there was such a type of magic."

"Because, someone who is a twenty or so year old Auror's spell knowledge would trump that of an over a century year old wizard, I'm sure. Damn you Aurors are so overconfident."Richard commented.

"Stop bickering all of you. Dumbledore just sent in Patronus message. He wants us to assume attack positions. He mentioned that the third floor balcony on the left wing of the Manor would probably be a good vantage point."Lupin ordered, out of breath from running to them.

Richard clapped his hands together and wrung them eagerly, "Alright then! We shall depart immediately. Remus, you can rest in the rooms below if you are available. "

"Unfortunately, Dumbledore wants me on the front lines now. The message said that Voldemort was gathering his best together for a push on the lines."

"So all of you down there are going to be holding them out in the light for those of us up top to rain fire down upon? Sounds like an excellent idea."Richard answered, almost excited at the prospect.

Lupin nodded," Well, I am on my way. You should get your forces to the top."

Richard turned to Harry, Jake, and Tonks as Lupin ran towards the stairs deeper in the manor, "Well, you heard him! We go up and to the left!"

As they began the march, Harry asked Jake, "I thought this was the highest balcony?"

"The battle must have shifted from in the hills in front of the Manor to the sides. If I recall, I think someone may have said that would be our weak point. If You-Know-Who could spread us out across all three flanks, then his greater numbers would give him the edge. While I don't think that he has a tactical mind, I think that You-Know-Who may realize that is to his advantage just by watching the battle."

After a short jog through the Manor, they emerged on the Left Wing's Balcony. Richard ran out, and immediately had to deflect a variety of spells. He took cover with Harry and Jake, "Damn them! They're everywhere!"

Orange, red, and green lights flashed through the smoky air. The scent of fire and death lay heavily on the air. Harry shouted over the din of battle, "Richard! The balcony looks like it is about to collapse! I think Voldemort's ordered Death Eaters to focus fire here!"

A Blasting Curse struck the balcony's ledge and blasted large pieces of the masonry towards the doorway. The trio shielded their eyes from the debris. Then, they heard a large crack. True to Harry's observation, the balcony was beginning to slant and split from the manor. A second Blasting Curse struck the balcony, and that was it. It separated from the house, and collapsed upon anyone unfortunate enough to be below it.

Richard commented, "That didn't go as planned. Now, we just make it up as we go. This just happens to be the way I like it."

Harry chuckled slightly as Jake rolled his eyes. The two were jolted when a voice shouted up, "Keep up the pressure! We're almost through! They can't hold much longer!"

"That doesn't sound good." Harry observed as they made their way back to the ground floor. They ran into Diggle, who screamed, "Everyone to the frontlines! The Death Eaters have almost broken through!"

Richard began to shout his response, but Diggle was blasted away by a Blasting Curse, cutting him off. Harry saw him land with a bone-crunching thud, his body twisting in a manner that could not support life. Richard's face paled slightly, and turned back to the oncoming line of Death Eaters that Harry had not seen, with the fury of an angered lion defending his den.

Violent green flashed all around them. Harry ducked as Jake, Richard, and Tonks summoned bricks from the wreckage of the balcony to block the coming storm. With a quickly muttered "_Wingardium Leviosa",_ Harry levitated the largest fragment, and projected it towards the crowd of gathering Death Eaters.

Ten crushed beneath the stone balcony, but three more came to replace, and banished the balcony fragment back at them. A deadly tug of war ensued, as the quad for Light took turns banishing the massive fragment towards the Death Eaters, and they reflected.

Others saw the fragment, and worried for their own safety. A trio of Death Eaters came from the frontlines to support, but they were swiftly removed by flying masonry, flung by Lilina and Sarah, who had joined the fray now. Richard shouted to his granddaughters, "Shatter the windows! Banish the shards!"

The two fired a weak curse at the nearest windows, and banished the shards as he ordered. Richard removed his strength from the banishing war. Harry noticed that the difference was hardly noticeable, perhaps Richard was not very powerful, just innovative. Richard whipped the shards into a small tornado, and deflected them towards the trio of Death Eaters, who stood their ground, uncertainty gripping them. They paid with their lives, as the shards ripped through their flesh, filling the air with crimson.

Harry retched back as they walked past the bodies; they were slashed in many directions and that. Richard added his strength back to the fragment, and ordered them to lower it as a shield. He shouted, "We go to the front! Let us carry victory upon our backs and limber shoulders!"

All six recoiled back as spell after spell, some lethal, some not, slammed into the balcony fragment. The fragment was thick enough to withstand the punishment, but they could see larger and larger pieces being blasted off. Slowly they marched on.

In the distance, they could see Dumbledore and Voldemort dueling in a battle for the ages that made the Department of Mysteries confrontation look like a couple of first years. The remnants of the Death Eater forces whirled around the two combatants, making their chaotic battle akin to the eye of a hurricane.

Richard shouted, "This is it! On my mark, throw the fragment at the Eaters behind Voldemort! Steel yourselves! Three!"

"Damn, I guess I didn't know what I was signing up for when I…"Jake muttered.

` "Two!"

Harry hissed back, "This battle isn't over yet!"

"One!"

"I never thought it would come to a standoff like this." Tonks muttered.

"Throw it!"

With a banisher from all six, the balcony fragment flew through the air with great speed, slamming into Death Eaters who tried to blast it apart like a car on a freeway. The sound and effect of the flying balcony caught the attention, even of those who were not in its immediate trajectory. Both Voldemort and Dumbledore turned at the sound of the crash.

Richard took advantage of Voldemort's surprise, jabbing his wand at the Dark Lord, screeching, "_Dies Irae!"_

A thin wave of angry, gold and red light blazed forth, leaving wrathful flames in its wake, scorching all in its way. Voldemort cried loudly in pain and anger as the beam passed through his entire left arm and burned his yew wand to ash. Voldemort's resistance to pain allowed him to live and think quickly, extinguishing the flames consuming his arm by robbing a wand off a dead body nearby. The Death Eaters affected were not so lucky.

Their cries of agony filled the night like the screeches of an angry banshee as they slowly burned to death. Voldemort gathered himself and his remaining followers together. He shouted at Dumbledore, "This isn't over, old man! We will return!" before Apparating off.

Suddenly, there was silence. A clean, pure, silence. Then, the silence was fractured by discussion and cries. Some were cries of anger, others of agony and sorrow.

Dumbledore looked perhaps more disheveled than Harry had ever seen him. His beard heavily singed. His hair nearly burnt off. His robes clung to his figure, blackened and tattered. His wand seemed to radiate energy from the battle. It seemed to burn his remaining hand, even as he made to put it into whatever pocket may have survived.

Dumbledore's appearance was emblematic of the landscape. Blackened, burnt, singed, with fires raging all around, it was as pure a portrait of hell as Harry had ever seen. Fissures ran in the earth. The trenches that had been dug in the previous days were now filled with rubble. Ashe was beginning to fall from the sky, so heavily were the outlying trees burning. A westward wind had kicked up, blowing all the smoke and ash towards the manor, where the survivors were left to collect the dead.

Dumbledore sat down on a makeshift bench that he conjured. He sighed in weariness, closing his eyes as though he wished he were dreaming. Richard knelt nearby, with his arm draped around his second son, Godfrey, who lamented the death of his youngest daughter.

Jake and Cecil had united, somehow surviving the battle, but both were distraught. They shouted loudly for their own father, but he was either out of ear shot, or unable to return their calls.

Lupin was limping heavily, a massive gash in his right leg. He fought through the pain as best he could, but was heavily limited. Dumbledore called Harry's attention, breaking the almost surreal hold the scene had upon him.

"Harry, find the innermost fireplace of the Manor. It should be untouched. Call Hogwarts. Call for all available to come to us. Tell Minerva that we've suffered heavily."

Harry nodded his consent, and took off to carry out the orders. The smell of death reeked all around the main entrance of the Manor. To his own shock and awe, the Manor had never once been breached. Only aesthetic damage had been dealt. It didn't take Harry long to find the fireplace that Dumbledore had spoke of. A large container of Floo Powder sat on the mantle. Hoping that a Floo ban hadn't been placed on the house, Harry called out as he threw the powder, "Hogwarts: Deputy Headmistress' office!"

McGonagall's office came into his view almost immediately. A somewhat drowsy McGonagall bustled into the room, and asked, "Mr. Potter, has something happened?"

"Yes, Professor, the battle is over. Professor Dumbledore says to send all available. We've taken heavy casualties."

McGonagall nodded, "It will be done, Mr. Potter. You will need medical assistance?"

"I do not, but there are others who do. If the Castle can be spared of Madam Pomfrey, then she should probably come. I don't know how long it will be before the Ministry quarantines this location. Hurry!"

Harry pulled his head out after she nodded again. He made his return to the Left Wing as quickly as he could. Upon his return, he saw those who did not lose blood, carrying those who had inside. Many were too tired to cast the magic, or simply didn't care.

Jake and Cecil had found their father, but not to their liking. The two were a mixture of anger and sorrow, standing vigilant over his crushed and dismembered body. Harry noted that the two held their emotions well. Maybe they held them too well.

All told, the Order was greatly diminished by the battle. The only Order members who had survived were Dumbledore, Lupin, and Tonks. All the others who had come died. Some were dead since the beginning of the battle, like Hestia Jones. Others were casualties of the late battle push, like Diggle. Others died before aid could arrive.

Unlike in any previous confrontation he had ever been in, Harry noticed he was stuck with an odd feeling. The odd feeling he sometimes got, that, perhaps if he had been there, maybe he could have done something to save them. He was sad for their loss, but he seemed disconnected. Maybe he was realizing that this was a war, and that wars have casualties. He would never really know.

The scene that Madame Pomfrey, and the school Aurors, led by Moody, came upon was a grim one. The first thing Madame Pomfrey fussed about while she was administering her care on Lilina was how young many of them were. She was met by an angry rebuttal by Jake that resembled Uncle Vernon shouting about owls the previous year, in Harry's mind at least.

Harry had never taken the time to notice that the Abbotts he had been fighting with were fairly close to his age. The oldest was twenty-four, that being Cecil. Jake was nineteen, and the two witches were eighteen and twenty.

Tonks was coughing up blood in a corner; Lupin was lying on a sofa. Dumbledore himself seemed to have regained his energy. He was greeting the reinforcements. However, Richard was nowhere to be found. When asked, Jake shrugged, saying that he didn't know where his grandfather was.

The second oldest man in the Manor reappeared carrying a letter. He quietly asked Dumbledore if he could borrow Fawkes for a quick delivery. Unusually, Dumbledore agreed, and summoned the phoenix in a flash of flame. Richard handed the phoenix the letter, and said, "You know where to go."

The bird nodded fervently, and flashed off. Harry quirked a curious eyebrow, while Dumbledore looked rather disappointed.

* * *

><p>(Unbound)<p>

The tome in front of her was massive. She noticed the Queen of Bookworms herself eyeing the book in front of Daphne with significant apprehension. Daphne didn't know exactly what the putting off element was, but maybe the fact that the book looked like it was bound in human flesh may have been it.

It had no title. The lettering within was a language not even the Ancient Runes professor or the Goblin Artificer they had hired had ever seen. It bore only a passing resemblance to any other known language in history. However, with enough effort, it could probably be cracked. For now, they were stuck.

Since Harry and Dumbledore had both asked her to look into the old myth of the Trinity objects, she took the research seriously now. All the books on the subject, which were rather subjective in their interpretation of the old legends, pointed towards an unsettling conclusion. The Trinity Objects, unrelated to the equally legendary trio known as the Deathly Hallows, had already been gathered once before.

The Trinity Objects were referred to only as Unbent, Unbound, and Unbroken. What they actually were, not even the oldest books and folklore dared to speculate. As for who had gathered them, the speculation ran the gamut, from Merlin all the way to Harry Potter. Daphne laughed quite a bit about that last one.

What the Trinity Objects could do, however, was not up for speculation. Anyone who had ever done any research, a surprising number on such an obscure legend, had narrowed the gifts down to small list: Immortality, an unspecified ability relating to something called Planes walking, Infection, and unlimited control over magically created artifacts.

Besides immortality and infection, the other two gifts were ambiguous and unexplained. The greatest eccentrics dismissed the idea that there was more than one universe. Magically created artifacts were a different creature.

True creation had been lost forever with the destruction of Atlantis, a myth that most Purebloods knew was true, if not to the exact letter of the legend. Most artifacts of any kind were muggle created and just enchanted. Hence, they weren't magically created. The Fundamental Laws of Transfiguration bound most magically created objects. Daphne had heard Hermione Granger compare the Laws to something Muggles called the Laws of Thermodynamics. She didn't have the remotest idea what those were, but the Transfiguration laws were pretty binding.

Some of the laws were rudimentary, such as not being able to conjure up food. Others dealt with banishing, summoning, and conjuring in a different manner, stating that no magically created item was entirely permanent. Strong wizards, like Dumbledore and Voldemort, could make conjured objects last years. Most wizards and witches could only make them last a couple of days at most, normally just a few hours. Therefore, all researchers, and consequently, Daphne, viewed the last gift as being useless.

She flipped open the archaic book they had found. Just gazing at the enigmatic sigils made her head spin, and her body cramp up. It took all her concentration to look at the book. The room seemed to teem with energy, to blaze with activity. Everything conspired against this book's translation.

Her vision began to blur and the sigils began to run together. They turned into a whirlwind of black ink and flesh colored parchment. She succumbed to the welcoming darkness.

* * *

><p>(Unbound)<p>

A man sat at a desk. There is dust everywhere, enough to make Hagrid's Cabin look clean. The man busily scratched out a few calculations with a battered quill that desperately needed replacing. He was a very old man. His beard was longer than Dumbledore's, but far scragglier and less well kept. He wore black robes with a white cross embedded on his shoulders.

The ancient door on the far side of the room flung open. A far younger man, no older than twenty, bustled into the room. The elder raised his eyes slightly in response, while continuing to write. The younger approached the elder's desk, and held out a letter that looked hastily sealed.

"Who is it from, Cathar Messenger?"

The Messenger replied, "The letter says that it is from Abolisher Abbott, but it was Justiciar Dumbledore's phoenix who delivered it."

The elder threw down his battered quill, "Abolisher Abbott? Well, hand me the letter. Allow me peace to see what the Abolisher wants."

"Excellency?"

"Abolisher Abbott always wants something. It is the only reason he ever writes. There is simply no other explanation. Now, go! Leave me be so that I may read his drivel, and respond in kind. I shall call you when I am ready."

The younger bowed slightly, "Of course, Excellency. I shall await your summons."

With a clang, the ironbound door slammed shut behind the Messenger Cathar. He carefully slit open the letter with a small opener, and pulled the parchment within out. He unfolded it carefully, and hissed under his breath. The Abolisher's writing, nearly ineligible as is, was messier than normal. The letter was clearly written with great haste, and the heavy creases in the parchment made it harder to read. The reading was difficult, even for a man who was nearing two hundred years old and fluent in five languages.

The elder pulled open a drawer in his desk, and pulled out a magnifying glass. Abbott wrote small to go with his messiness, compounding the problem. Pulling the parchment close, and with magnifying glass in hand, the elder began the painstaking process of translating it into a human language he could recognize.

However, it did not take the elder long to get what Abbott wanted. He dropped his quill and whispered, "Is he out of his mind?"

The elder decided it was best to put off writing the reply for another day, while he thought of the consequences of what Abolisher Abbott wanted.

* * *

><p>(Unbent)<p>

Wormtail worked with a fever unmatched, a zeal that no king or lord could ever inspire. He felt that he was close, close to unlocking something that would change the world forever. As he poured the thick, viscous, blacker than darkness oil into the beaker he was working on, he missed the pulse it made.

He flipped open the book he worked from. He muttered in fervent whispers, "Allow the steam back through the alembic, connect it to the oil. Let the oil bathe in the steam of the water tainted by the nightshade. Then, witness your reward."

He poured water into another beaker, water that had been purified as much as possible. Scrambling to the cabinet, he removed the nine stalks of nightshade within, their flowers still in bloom. Hastily, he cut the stalks, exercising as much caution as possible in his demented state of mind to keep the deadly plant away from the many scratches upon his palm.

He tipped the fragments off the cutting board and into the mortar, and grabbed the pestle. He impatiently mashed the chopped stalks into a thick, greenish paste. After it was sufficiently crushed, he took the mortar to the beaker his water was beginning to boil in. He scrapped the paste with a small knife, and dumped it into the water. The water, after an incantation was spoken, hissed and evaporated.

Wormtail cursed, filled another beaker with water. He connected the pipes, and poured the water in. The beaker began to hiss and fizz once more, but this time, steam began to rise in the pipes. The steam was a thin, but black mist, something that shouldn't have been produced by the mixture.

When the steam reached the oil, it began to solidify. This was certainly an odd reaction. A semi-solid brick began to emerge from the oil's beaker. Wormtail picked it up, and placed it upon a ritual circle drawn upon the floor. Wormtail watched, in awe, as the brick continued to grow in size. Energy began to pulse across it. A small rift seemed to be materializing in thin air. Suddenly, a pulse of energy sent Pettigrew flying. He crashed into the cupboard of ingredients. Quickly brushing himself off, he looked up in time to see a human like figure emerge from the rift.

In that moment, the world changed. In that moment, the stars realigned. Baleful eyes glared out from under a mass of long, tangled, ebon black hair. Where the figure's right arm should have been, was little more than two intertwining, metallic wires. He was taller than Pettigrew, but shorter than the Dark Lord himself was.

Wormtail quickly grabbed his head as a ringing sound erupted from the figure. The figure unleashed a powerful, psychic scream, which reverberated through the room. It unleashed another, even more powerful, ear-smashing scream, like a mighty lord announcing his coming. The scream passed through the room, and out of it, into the world outside.

* * *

><p>Spells<p>

Holy Spells: Holy magic, or Light Magic with the intent to kill, will take a bigger role in this story throughout.

Dies Irae: Means "The Day of Wrath". Translation taken from William Josiah Irons. Spell name taken from Mozzart's "Requiem: Dies Irae."

Ranks

Cathar: Generic term used to refer to low ranking men. Sometimes used as a derogatory term, especially amongst themselves. Inspired by MTG's (Magic the Gathering) Innistrad and Dark Ascension sets.

Justiciar: Rank name taken from Thalmor agents of Skyrim.

(Grand) Abolisher: Same origins as Cathar.

A/N: My apologies for no updates. I also apologize for any lack of quality in this chapter, I've been "out of the trade" for a little while. I'm aware of any errors in the previous chapters. I shall also be editing the earlier chapters to remove some of the less interesting parts, that sort of thing.


	6. Chapter 6 The Binding One

Chapter 5 The Binding One

A/N: Alright, so this story is going in a different direction than I originally intended it to go. I am also taking creative license on many things in this chapter.

* * *

><p><em>"The body can grow powerful, but the mind is infinite."<em>

No one knew what was about to befall Hogwarts. With most of the staff, save for a bare bones guard, gone, there would be no one to aide them if catastrophe struck. As luck would have, it struck.

The scream was a magical blast. It was invisible, and it was technically soundless. It was just a wave of energy tearing through the countryside. Just a wave of energy that was potentially lethal to anyone within a certain radius of the origin of the blast. It was exceptionally lethal to someone with unstable magic, like most everyone under Third Year in Hogwarts.

Sybil Trelawney felt the effects first. Most everyone who took her class considered her a fake. A select few knew that she was a real Seer. She was also highly sensitive to destabilizing energies. It came to her with the subtlety of a train. She seized up, and quickly lost consciousness.

Trelawney was the lucky one. Losing consciousness spared her from the energy, for the most part. She would wake up with no memory of who she was or what she was. The others were not so lucky.

The wards functioned like the Earth's magnetic fields. It shielded most of the central areas from the wave, and funneled the excess energy into the highest and lowest points of the castle.

Draco Malfoy, ironically, was the first affected. He felt an immense pain welling up in his heart and mind. It overwhelmed him, forcing him to the ground. Malfoy was able to fight off the worst effects. Despite appearances and an overall lack of intelligence, common sense, and manners, Malfoy did have strong mental willpower.

Gasping in pain, he wrenched his eyes open to a horrific scene in the Slytherin Common Room. People were falling to their knees, shrieking in pain. The torches all blacked out, and his attempts to light his wand with a Lumos failed. In the darkness, the Slytherins writhed in agony. Yet, Draco was not the only one who was able to fight off the mental and magical assault.

Soon, there was silence. It was an angry, pain-filled silence. Draco shouted out, "Anyone out there?"

Wand activated magic still wasn't working, so Draco pulled out his Hand Of Glory. For a slight moment, he looked at the dark artifact, remembering how angry he had been when his father refused to buy it for him back in his second year. It gave off light, though only to him. Smirking arrogantly, he held the Hand high.

The scene surprised him. Nearly every Slytherin was lying on the ground. Some of the elders were not, but most were. It didn't surprise Draco much. It disappointed him to admit it, but most Slytherins were inbred to the point of being both ugly and stupid. They were only good for followers, because they were stupid enough to follow anyone, given the right criteria.

With a sneer, that Snape would have been proud of, Draco prowled around the bodies of his fellow Slytherins. Looking at a few, Malfoy was quite sure they were dead. Like any good Slytherin, he immediately began to think of ways he could turn this to his benefit. His smirk grew into a smile, and he ventured off into the darkness.

* * *

><p>(Unbound)<p>

Peter Pettigrew, not known to be the bravest man, was frozen in terror. The figure that his Master's book had brought forward, struck more fear into his heart than his master ever had. For a moment, the figure seemed to test out its extremities. Finally, it spoke, "There, in the corner. Come out. I would speak with you."

The voice was clear, forceful, and somewhat inhuman. Much like with his Master, he did not want to obey the voice, but was unwilling to disobey. He crawled fearfully out of the corner. The figure spoke to him, "Your manner befits you. You are called Wormtail, and you act like a rat. You look like a frightened rat. Come forward. I have questions that must be answered."

Peter was perturbed that the figure knew his name, yet he had never spoken once during the process. Yet, he came forward. The two wires rose, and scratched the man's chin, as though he were thinking deeply. He said, "I ask to you: Who is this master you fear more so than Death Incarnate?"

Peter stammered, "T-The Dark Lord."

"His name."

Peter looked up, "I have g-given you what you wanted."

"Tell me, fool, what is his name? You have not answered my question."

Peter began to twitch, "None speak the Dark Lord's name."

The figure flashed a smile briefly, and tried a different approach, "This Dark Lord, does he have another moniker? Perhaps, a pseudonym? "

Peter spoke with a tremor, "Voldemort."

The figure smirked, "Excellent. Answer: What year is this?"

"I believe it to be 1996."

"Good, good. Where is your master?"

"On a mission. He left with very high hopes to finally defeat the Order of the Phoenix, and take over Britain. "Peter answered.

"Who else are there here?"

"The Dark Lord left most of the Inner Circle behind. While we are unworthy to know his true motivations, I believe he thought the New Blood would be better used for the mission. The Dark Lord knew that the Old Fool would be prepared for him. He didn't want to waste our best on their traps."

"An old fool? Who might this be?"

"Albus Dumbledore. He's the Headmaster of Hogwarts, and the premiere Light wizard in the world." Peter explained, not thinking about how odd it was for someone not to know who Dumbledore was.

The figure nodded understandingly. He muttered to himself, "Then the world has changed quite drastically."

"Since when, if I may ask?"

The figure shook his head, "Never mind that, we have more… What was that?"

Peter looked around worriedly, before Goyle Senior entered the room, giving off an aura of panic. The senior Goyle hissed, "Wormtail! The Dark Lord has returned, and called everyone to the Main Hall. He is most displeased. Bring whoever is with you as well."

Wormtail nodded fervently. He hissed to the figure, "We should go. If the Dark Lord is angry, it wouldn't do well to anger him further by being late. Quickly, what is your name?"

"You may call me Elberus, the Binding One."

"Good, follow me!"

Elberus followed the ratty fellow, Wormtail they called him, through the halls of a rather nice mansion. He noted the markings upon the walls in some locations, indicating this was an old manor. _Perhaps this was a place I can use well_, he thought as Wormtail led him through the halls and closer to the Main.

Elberus cursed at the sudden increase in volume as they entered the Main Hall. People were shouting. Some were cursing. Hell, some were crying. Elberus finally saw what they were all fussing about. In the middle of the room, sprawled out on the floor, was a cloaked figure. Another man, with extremely greasy hair, was putting salves on an arm that was burned black like charcoal.

One of the Death Eaters in the front scoffed slightly, "Good to see Snape got here so fast."

_So the greasy man is Snape. Who else?_ Elberus noted in his mind. At that moment, Wormtail asked, "What happened to the Dark Lord?"

Dolohov, slightly behind the two, answered, "One of the bastards managed to sneak this weird curse in on the fight. I think it was Richard Abbott. Dies Irae, he said."

Theodore Nott Senior hissed slightly in disgust, "A holy spell? No wonder it did so much damage. Those spells, they are like Phoenixes. They can tell your allegiances. They do more to darkness than anyone else."

Mulciber entered the conversation now, "Abbott, eh? I've heard of them. There's a lot of priests and monks in that family line. Figures they'd know some holy spells. Something of a tradition amongst them I hear."

"If I recall from Binns correctly, the Abbotts were amongst the first Wizard families to convert to Christianity. There may be some priests and monks, but there are some Inquisitors in that line too. I heard that one of them helped head up the Spanish Inquisition."

Dolohov sniggered slightly, "They may be Hufflepuffs to the number, but there's more blood on their hands than most of our families."

"Quiet, you fools! The Dark Lord is about to speak!"

Immediately, everyone around Elberus stood up a straighter, becoming more like trees than humans. The air seemed to become ice, as the Dark Lord Voldemort stood up.

Elberus' first impression of the man who was the most feared in all of Britain wasn't good. To Elberus, he seemed weak. He seemed frail. Worst of all, he was hideous. His skin was stark white, like shed snakeskin. He had no nose, and his eyes were crimson red. He was a monstrosity, in Elberus' eyes, something whose appearance matched the evil it represented.

The Dark Lord spoke with his typical hate-filled hiss, "We have suffered an inexcusable defeat this day. Not only did I fail to kill the old man or Potter, we lost all of our men."

"They were just new blood. They can be replaced." Someone very foolish shouted out.

"_**Crucio**_" Voldemort's wand flew out and the offender fell to the floor screaming. The Dark Lord didn't release the curse, until the Death Eater died from the pain. Elberus smiled in the back with Wormtail. Now he could appreciate that kind of man.

Voldemort hissed out, "Is there anyone else who would like to speak up?"

No one took up his offer, so he continued, "We are going to have to lay low for a little while. I am incredibly angry, that we could not follow up our killing of Amelia Bones with the annihilation of those Light families."

Voldemort paused for dramatic effect. The Death Eaters within seemed afraid to breathe. Elberus would have chuckled slightly, but thought better of it. He didn't like pain anymore than the next guy.

Voldemort resumed, "Now, we must recover and regain our ground. Mulciber, you are to gain whatever ground you can with the giants. I know you have some of them on our side. However, I want more. Our vengeance cannot wait for so long! Wormtail! Have you completed the task I assigned you?"

The Death Eaters within tittered nervously. Apparently, Wormtail was not well liked amongst his companions, Elberus noted. Wormtail stepped forward from the back and spoke in the smallest of voices, "Y-Y-Yes, Milord. I have completed the ritual as detailed in the book."

"So what are the results?" Voldemort twirled his yew wand in an absent-minded manner that still managed to intimidate all the Death Eaters in the room.

Peter continued nervously, "It had an unforeseen effect."

"Like what?"

Peter looked toward Elberus, "Uh, Elberus? Could you come here?"

Elberus chuckled slightly, and walked out into the clearing in the hall. Voldemort frowned quite heavily, "Yes, this is quite unforeseen. You are Elberus?"

"I am Elberus, the Binding One. How exactly Wormtail summoned me, I am uncertain. I am here."

Voldemort was curious, "Summoned? That is…interesting. You call yourself the Binding One. Why exactly?"

Elberus smiled arrogantly, "It is the meaning of my name. I have many talents."

"Like what talents? What could you offer that greatest wizard of this world?"

Elberus quirked the wires that made up his left arm slightly. That was what he had been looking for. "I can give you anything you desire. I can give you…the world."

Even Voldemort seemed shocked that he would offer him the world. However, Elberus could tell that Voldemort was beyond interested in this prospect. Elberus did not know much about this Dark Lord. But, like all proclaimed Lords, he wanted land and power. Elberus could give it to him. For a price to be named later, that was.

"How do you plan to deliver me this gift?"

Elberus waved his right hand dramatically, "You need only give me the materials, and I can make it happen. I have a talent for creating things. I am an experimenter, who breaks the bounds of conventional magics. I can give you an army in five months if you accept now. I can breed more armies of the same ilk. Armies that not even the combined power of the world can stop."

"And why stop at the world?" He added as a tease.

Voldemort was on the verge of accepting, but snapped out of it, "I cannot accept a deal without knowing more about the man who offers it. Perhaps, also knowing what his price may be, would also be adequate."

_Ah, the caution of a burned man. Figuratively and literally, of course, he seems to have accepted a deal without proper thought in the past, and been burned. _Elberus thought bitterly.

Still, he was not dissuaded, "A man must have his secrets, no? My name is Elberus; Elberus is who I am. Do you not need to know more? I am certain you know less about your own servants."

Voldemort hissed in anger, his wand moving into a threatening position, "Do not insult my intelligence, Elberus. I know my followers better than they know themselves."

"What if you didn't have to worry about something as pitiful as loyalty," Elberus asked, "What if I could promise you an army of blindly loyal subjects?"

"My current followers are loyal enough."

"Not all of them."

Elberus had been firing blindly, knowing absolutely nothing about Voldemort's men, but when Snape flinched very slightly, he knew he had hit his target. Voldemort, however, seemed unaffected.

Elberus, in an opposite view, knew this could end both very well, and very badly. He had guessed correctly that not all of Voldemort's men were blindly loyal to the Messiah of their beliefs. Given Voldemort's reaction, the man was either less observant than Elberus thought, or more arrogant.

In the best scenario, Elberus could remove the traitors by his own hand, thus endearing himself to the Dark Lord. Alternatively, he could have a chosen champion do it, and give said champion power of their choosing. In the worse scenario, the traitors could report these happenings to their true master. This true master would then interfere, and then everything would fall apart.

For all his caution, Elberus didn't know anything about the world he was in right now, and had no way of knowing that this said "true master" was currently stuck with little more than twenty soldiers, and posed little threat to Voldemort at this time. If Voldemort were physically capable, he would have gathered his Inner Circle, and made a final assault. If Elberus had, he would have been far more aggressive in the pursuit of his goals. Whatever they were, Elberus didn't really know himself at this point.

Elberus continued after deliberating, "Whatever the circumstances are, I am certain you can use my services to your advantage. My name is Elberus, the Binding One. My name is in a language older than Cuneiform. Does that sate your thirst for knowledge?"

Voldemort was pleased, "I shall have my experts research languages to discover your origins, Elberus. Knowledge freely given is not freely earned, after all. What do you need for you to create my army?"

"Whose house is this?"

Voldemort sneered and the other Death Eaters laughed slightly, "Lucius Malfoy's Manor. It is our current base after my revival at my old home in Little Hangleton. Do you require something larger?"

"If it is possible for you to move these men back to Little Hangleton, wherever that is, then I ask that you do so. I will require large areas to perform my experiments."

Voldemort thought for a moment, then answered, "I have a better idea. I will send you to Little Hangleton, and the Manor there. There, you will be supplied with whatever you need. Dumbledore will not suspect me of reusing that old house anyway."

"Then it is done. I require gemstones. Any kind will suffice, be they emerald, sapphire, ruby or anything else. In large quantities if you would. I also require oil and stone. Preferably, marble. I will require talc as well. I ask for metals. Iron or steel will suffice. Oh, and bring me quicksilver as well. Wormtail knows how to produce the oil I need. Use him."

Voldemort and the other Death Eaters scoffed noticeably, "Is that so? Well, he shall be given that task. The only thing he is useful for at any rate."

Elberus wound the wires of his left arm around eagerly, walking out of the Main Hall. He was being given a chance to make his ideals real.

* * *

><p>(Unbent)<p>

Harry awoke with a throbbing headache worse than any pain he had experienced with his scar before. He heard groans as others began to wake up as well. He looked at Dumbledore, who seemed to be the only one unaffected by whatever had happened. Dumbledore shook his head, he didn't know either.

The Ministry Auxiliaries were the last to regain consciousness, further denting Harry's opinion of Britain's Magical Governing body. Richard was rather cheery for a man who just lost one of his sons, and one of his granddaughters. In fact, he was downright happy.

Jake approached Harry after watching Dumbledore and Richard give off another run of interviews for the Daily Prophet. He shook his head with a depressed scowl, "I don't know what's up with my grandfather. He seems unaffected by this whole thing. I know he fought in the Great Wars, and this is nothing compared to them, but he could pretend to mourn."

"What happened then?"

Jake answered, "Pretty much our whole family was destroyed by World Wars One and Two. My grandfather lost his father, mother, and two of his four brothers in the first war. He then lost the rest during the bombings in World War 2. He enlisted in the Volunteer Wizards army that was led by Dumbledore personally, knowing that if he died, then our family would be gone. Sometimes I wonder about him."

"He sounds a little touched. Maybe he's just getting old."

Jake sighed, "He wasn't old back in the forties and teens. I think he just never grew up. I won't hesitate to say that me, Cecil, and Hannah are more mature than he is. Well, we think things through better than he does."

Harry laughed, before ducking inside of the manor to avoid the reporters himself. It was roughly two hours before Dumbledore and Richard returned. Richard threw his wand onto the table in the center of the Left Wing Entrance Hall, and sat down. He said, "Well, I'd say we dealt Voldemort a hefty price for his brazen attack on us."

Dumbledore cut his eyes at Richard, however, Remus rebutted the statement, "We've identified the Death Eaters who were here. Flints, lesser Notts, those sorts. There were very few Death Eaters of any importance at all. If there were any of the Inner Circle in the battle, they left with the Dark Lord."

"So we lost all those Order members to a bunch of Death Eater scrubs?"

Dumbledore nodded, "That's about right, Harry. We believe that Voldemort brought his weaker forces in exchange for a greater number. He did not believe we would put up a great fight."

"Or perhaps he knew that Snape would tell you of the attack, and that you would prepare. He would bring his lowliest troops to sledgehammer our defenses. His sacrificial lambs, that's what those Death Eaters were." Richard interjected.

"I don't want to believe that, but if what Remus says is true, then Richard may be right, Professor. But, that also begs this question: Why would Voldemort be willing to sacrifice so many of his own, during a time when the establishment of a powerbase is most important?"

Dumbledore looked at Harry with a slight twinkle in his eyes, "That…baffles me. Tom may not think his actions out, but this attack was more brazen and aggressive than normal. We cannot rule it out."

"If this is the case, then he must have an ace of some sort to use against us."

"I think it is more likely that his head was over bloated after he killed Bones and the Greengrass Massacre," Moody said as he entered the discussion.

Richard chuckled at the grizzled Auror's comment, "Can't discount that theory either. In fact, I'm more inclined to believe that one, than I am the one about this being a brilliant tactical move to destroy our forces at a relatively low expense to his forces."

"But that was your own theory."

"Was it? I don't remember."

Jake sighed in the background. They were all able to hear his muttered insult, "That's how he always is."

Richard faked an angry scowl at his grandson, before returning his attentions to the meeting of the minds. Suddenly, all their discussions were interrupted by a blast of flame, and Fawkes flashed onto the table, carrying a letter. The phoenix dropped the letter from his beak in front of Richard, and fluttered over to Dumbledore, landing on the back of his chair.

Richard slit the letter open, and smiled widely. He said, "Help may be on the way."

* * *

><p>(Unbound)<p>

"Are you sure, Excellency?"

The Elder scowled at the Cathar Messenger as he gave him the written orders, "Your job is to listen and do, not to question. The Council will convene to determine if Abbott's claims warrant an inquisition. If he is correct, then the hounds will get their first blood in a hundred years. If not, then it will simply be another strike against him."

"I am to bring this missive to the Bishops, and have them convene in two hours time." the Cathar recited.

"Exactly. Now go! Waste not another moment!"

The Cathar bowed, and left the room. It would not take long for the phoenixes of the nearby bishops to flare into his office, and deliver their responses. Some would be angry, others would question his sanity, but they all agreed. To disobey the direct orders of the High Marshall would put them in conflict with the Lunarch, which would put them in conflict with the rest of the Church.

The existence of their Order was a tenuous one, and there was little margin allowed for error. Their role; justified and accounted. Their reputation; hated and decried. In their time of existence, no single organization has been hated as much as the Order of the Alabaster, also known as the Order of the Archangel, the Alabaster Council, and the Magical Church. Many wizards simply call them, "Traitorous bastards who turned us over to the Catholic Church," because the Alabaster Order enchanted artifacts to negate the charms most wizards used to escape execution for heresy.

The Order of the Archangel is the face of many things, most of them quite unpleasant to more liberal folk. The great irony is that one of the most liberal Wizards in the world, Albus Dumbledore, holds a very high rank in the Order of the Archangel. Alas, those who rank above him make Dumbledore look rather young.

Werewolf slayers, vampire slayers, giant slayers, and people of similar ilk are all employed, trained, and often raised by the Alabaster Council. Most importantly, it is home to the Magical equivalent of the Inquisition. Unlike the historical version, which eventually faded away, the Alabaster Inquisition (sometimes White Inquisition), persisted in the Wizarding World.

The legacy of the Alabaster Order was one of hatred and anger. They were one of the Church's deepest and most jealously guarded secret. Like many of the Vatican's secrets, there would be hell to pay if the Alabaster Order was revealed to the world. They were an order that kidnapped muggles in the night to turn into the Hounds of Seeking, an order that had many rituals that tested the very meaning of the word heresy.

Their history may be bloodier than Vlad the Impaler's, but their place was long secured. The Goblins had no place in Italy because of the Alabaster Order, nor did any Dark Lord. When Grindelwald drove Hitler to power, only Muggle Italy followed Mussolini. Magical Italy remained firmly on the path of Light, and there were five hundred Italian wizards fighting alongside of Albus Dumbledore at Berlin. All of this occurred, because of the Alabaster Order.

Good acts discounted, this Order was no Order of the Phoenix, even if they served as Dumbledore's inspiration of his own order. Their methods were crueler than losing your soul to dementors. They were crueler than holding someone under the Cruciatus curse for hours. Nevertheless, they still had a record of good, and to some people, that was all that mattered.

The High Marshall, he had a name. He was ancient, old as the church his office sat. His name was Francesco of Milan. Shortly after his missive had been sent, the other presiding men of the Order Alabaster entered his office. As part of their reliance upon the Church, only a token few of the Council were actually of the Order. However, those "true members" held more influence than the Muggle Priests who were on the council.

Marshall Francesco turned to address the bishops, the Masters, and the Abolishers. Strangely, the representatives of the Inquisition were not present. "I have received word from Abolisher Abbott."

No one groaned, rolled their eyes, or scoffed, but it was blatantly apparent that they all had a disregard for Richard Abbott's words. "However, due to circumstances, we must hear him out. As you all know, there has long been a plague in the British Isles. That plague, is Tom Marvolo 'Voldemort' Riddle."

Unlike so many British Wizards, not a single Council Member flinched or even made note that would suggest that Voldemort was in any way important or to be feared. The Master of the Wolf Hunters simply asked, "This concerns us in what way?"

"Our aid in destroying this plague has been requested by Abolisher Abbott."

The Blades master scoffed, "He always wants something. I find myself in agreement with the Wolf Master."

One of the High Priests, named Anselm, voiced his concerns, "I've heard tale of this Voldemort. He holds great potential. He has the potential to surpass even Grindelwald in terror. Pardon if I do not wish to see such a war envelope Europe, nay, the world ever again."

The other Muggle Priests nodded their agreement. Of the eleven-member council, there were six Muggle Priests, and five Alabaster members. The six Priests could never pass or reject a measure by themselves, but all it took was two Alabaster members to side with them to pass or reject a measure.

Francesco noted that the Vampire Hunts master was in agreement with the Blades master and Wolf master. The vote would hinge on the Brood master. The Brood Master was the one who oversaw the breeding of the phoenixes of the Alabaster Order. If there were one hundred remaining phoenixes in the world, then seventy-five of them reside in the Brood Master's domain.

The Brood Master sat in contemplation for what seemed like several eternities. Finally, he took a long, heavy breathe, and measured his words carefully, "The fate of the world may be in our hands. We must think over this carefully. We must also think of our own benefit. When has Richard Abbott's adventures ever benefitted us? There is a reason we forced him into quasi-retirement thirty years ago. We cannot devalue the worth of the information he provides us, but we cannot place stock upon it. I move for our vote to be delayed."

The Brood Master's verdict was meant with little kindness. Fiery debate ensued, and angry words were thrown, but in the end, the Brood Master's verdict was the only option. Almost happy, High Marshall Francesco sat down to write the response to Richard's letter. Only to be interrupted by the one man he didn't want to see.

Almost effortlessly, clad entirely in black, looking eerily like a Death Eater, entered the High Inquisitor. The oldest member of the Order, and surpassing even the combined ages of Dumbledore and Richard Abbott, the High Inquisitor was the one man no one trifled with. Most of the Alabaster Order didn't even know his name.

To most, he was a relic of the past. He was a token that harkened to a time when the Alabaster Order was the Hammer of Heresy. Francesco frowned very heavily at the black entity, "High Inquisitor Randall Hinch. It is unusual of you to seek office with me. Normally you appeal directly to the Lunarch."

The Inquisitor wheezed, his voice like sand paper grating together, "You alone can give me what I want."

"What do you want?"

"Blood."

The simplicity of the statement, yet its volume, chilled the Marshall to the bone. In that instant, he knew that the High Inquisitor wanted the United Kingdom to his own designs. Francesco answered, "You do not need to cause me another problem."

"I don't cause problems, I cause solutions."

"The only reason this order has not evicted you from our membership is your past service. Do not test the convictions that past faith instills in us," The Marshall replied, anger replacing the fear in his blood.

Under his black hood, Randall smirked arrogantly at the Marshall. Waiving his withered, cobwebbed hands in a dramatic manner, he intoned, "I do not intend on a full Inquisition. Yet."

"Listen, I don't have the time for this, Inquisitor Hinch. The decision was made earlier to postpone any investigations or interventions. Not everyone is happy with that decision, but we can live with it. Now, if you do not have anything left to add, would you please leave?" With that, Francesco lowered his head and began to focus on the letter he was supposed to be writing.

Hinch nodded slightly, "I have something to add."

Francesco raised his head up in disappointment. Hinch elaborated, "I will send a very small contingent of Inquisitors to Hogwarts. I say ten at the most," Hinch held up ten cobbled fingers, "including my apprentice, of course. And a couple of the Hounds will be added to the mix."

"Hounds? Surely, you jest, High Inquisitor? You would bring those abominations into a school full of children?"

The Inquisitor hissed back, "I do what is necessary, not necessarily the best thing or the right thing. If there is anyone who would dare raise a candle against the leadership, the Hounds would snuff them out immediately."

"Yes, snuff them out immediately is right. The Hounds are trained to kill those deemed heretics on sight! Even by our standards, killing children is a sin far beyond what I am willing to condone."

"Very well, I will drop the Hounds."

The Marshall nodded furiously, "No more than five Inquisitors, Hinch."

"Seven."

"No more than five."

"Seven! Use the Blessed Number! Five Inquisitors won't do much!"

"You brought Magical Brazil to its knees in three months. Four if you include what happened after that Goblin Expedition."

Hinch smiled in pride at the accomplishment, never mind that said accomplishment was being used against him in an argument. He replied, "That doesn't matter. I'm older now than I used to be. Seven Inquisitors."

"Six."

"Deal. I'll have you the details by tomorrow morning."

* * *

><p>(Unbound)<p>

"You there! Hustle up! The Dark Lord cannot be found wanting, or it will be our heads!" screamed the Warden. The relocation, and allocation of troops for Elberus, had taken little more than an hour or so. Elberus had figured that Voldemort, like any power hungry lord would, kept many nearly brain-dead followers to perform the small duties. Yet, Elberus was aghast at the sheer amount of such rabble.

Fate had dealt Elberus an evil hand. The sheer amount of idiocy was unbelievable, indescribable, and overwhelming all at the same time. It was fitting payback for questioning the Dark Lord of his men's loyalties earlier.

Fuming, he ran over his plans once more. Elberus did not want to bring the source of his power into this world; it could have been his doom. Instead, he kept it in his sanctuary, a sanctuary confined within time and space that, he noted, the so-called inferior Muggles were very close to proving existed.

His own problems aside, their ignorance set his plans back by months, perhaps years. Delays were something he had already figured out that the Dark Lord did not like. Wincing in pain, Elberus looked up at Wormtail.

Wormtail was the exception. Other than base appreciation for summoning him, Elberus felt nothing for the man. But, based gathered information, he deduced that Wormtail was a fairly useless character who joined Voldemort for much the same reason that Elberus exploited to gain employment from Voldemort. Wormtail wanted power and appreciation, something that Elberus was willing to provide. For a price later named, of course.

He looked at the large quantities of marble he was having shaped. Suddenly, his hopes flared once more.

* * *

><p>ANs: Alrighty then, that ends another chapter.

So I won't make promises on the next update. I was happy that when I finished the previous chapter, I was able to get right on this one, a nice change. And while I can't promise an update for a fiction like Dragon Knights that I haven't read in a year, I can say I won't be on a six-month sabbatical either.

Randall Hinch: The name comes from two Stephen King characters, Randall Flagg and Bill Hinch, who were actually the same guy. Flagg was actually an ageless human/demon hybrid who could be killed. Randall Hinch is along those same lines.


	7. Chapter 7 The Inquisitors Arrive

Chapter 6 The Inquisitors Arrive

"_I can't tell you if Paradise awaits you anywhere, in life or death, but I damn sure know that Hell exists. It is everywhere, in every man, in every nation, in every faith, and it never rests. It is our job to cull those who call it master." _

_-_Randall Hinch_ "The Inquisitor's Blade" _Page ten paragraph five_._

* * *

><p>It did not take long for Harry to figure out that something was wrong when he shaken awake at five in the morning on Saturday, three days after the battle. Dumbledore had lost the twinkle in his eyes, and shallow bags had begun to accumulate under his crescent glasses, as if he hadn't slept recently.<p>

The mood of the Order was excessively tense. In previous meetings, only Snape had been a doomsayer. Most everyone else, including normally grim members such as Moody and McGonagall, were rather cheery. However, even Tonks held her tongue.

Harry noticed shortly after taking his seat to the right of Dumbledore, that most of the teachers, sans McGonagall, were gone. Dumbledore shook his head very slightly, deterring any questions. Snape entered the room, cloak billowing behind him. He began the meeting.

"I have extremely urgent news. I apologize for the early convening and any other inconveniences." He nearly shouted compared to his normal voice.

Harry didn't know what registered first: Snape yelling, or Snape apologizing for being a pain in the ass. Either way, Snape snapped at him, "Silence, Potter! This is important."

Dumbledore sighed slightly, and waived his hand. Snape continued, "The Dark Lord has enlisted a new wizard."

Tonks muttered, "Gee that really is such important news, Professor. I don't see how that couldn't have waited until at least ten."

Snape glared at Tonks, "Leave off, _Nymphadora._ If you cannot contribute to the meeting, maybe you should just leave."

"Stop arguing. Snape has important news." Remus broke in. It was rather odd to see Lupin defend Snape. However, that was before Harry noticed what Snape looked like.

Snape's eyes were bloodshot, his skin was sallower than normal, and hung loosely. It was rather like Sirius had looked when Harry had met him during the Triwizard Tournament. In fact, Snape seemed to have lost weight from a general lack of food over the previous week or so.

"As I was saying, the Dark Lord has recruited a wizard named Elberus. He calls himself the Binding One. An enigma at best, all I know is that he talked his way into the Dark Lord's graces. However, I have also seen what he does. It is…disturbing."

"What is this man, Severus?" Dumbledore asked with a slight tremor.

"He has Wormtail making strange oils. He tests these oils on the Death Eaters he is provided. Many of them die screaming in ways that not even the Dark Lord's most powerful Crucio could inspire. Metallic spines begin jutting all over them, and those who survive become a sort of machine/human hybrid. This oil appears to be only creatable with specific instructions from Elberus, and only Wormtail can make it. I've tried to secure a sample, but Elberus guards the perfected samples quite jealously."

"Does he know anything about the rest of the war?"

Snape's eyes flared slightly and Harry knew what Dumbledore spoke of, "No, he doesn't. He knows very little of what he is getting into. His guesses, on the contrary, speak of a greater knowledge and prescience."

"He knows little for fact, yet, he strikes perilously close when throwing stones blindly at a glass house. He was looking right at me when he accused Voldemort of having traitors in his midst."

Moody growled, "Well, you are a traitor, Snape. For most of us, this isn't exactly news."

"Quiet! I'm not finished," Snape nearly shouted, "Elberus is rather odd. He has only wires for his left arm; he has no history that any of us can track, and his hair is greasier than mine is."

"Now that's a surprise." Lupin jeered.

Dumbledore intervened for Snape, "Ignore the peanut gallery, Severus. Continue as you were."

"Very well. In the last few days, the Dark Lord has been near starving us to put Elberus' theories to the test. Most, if not all, of the Death Eaters have been put on an 'Elberus detail', which has rapidly become a hated phrase amongst them. Elberus has the Death Eaters under his command gathering rudimentary, unrelated objects, generally from muggle cars."

"I imagine that has the Malfoys pleased. Reduced to scavengers for car parts," Harry added with a vindicated smile.

Moody leaned forward, "Let us get away from this…useless information. Can this Elberus fight?"

"I doubt that he is a good fighter, but I've never seen him with a wand. He spends most of his time in his alchemy lab trying to make the oils work. He does not strike me as a useful wizard on the battlefield."

Moody leaned back, "Then our concerns are not merited. If he can't fight, then he cannot help the Dark Lord in too many ways."

Dumbledore inclined his head towards Moody, "Old friend, I would not expect a veteran like yourself to underestimate the tactical advantages he might give them. I believe that Severus is implying that Elberus is working on something to create soldiers for them."

"Which is impossible based off of the Laws of Transfiguration. It ties into the Muggle theory that Existence can neither be expanded nor contracted."

"Not exactly right, Professor. The Muggle theory states that Matter cannot be created or destroyed. It also states that all things orderly always shift towards disorder, and that Matter and Energy can shift states, but neither can be created or destroyed. They're called the Laws of Thermodynamics." Harry corrected.

Snape responded with one of his greatest sneers, "I don't get paid to look into Muggle gibberish."

"Before Harry and Severus begin to cast spells, let me intervene. Harry is right, Severus. But you are right as well. Magic can defy what Muggles call Physics, but only temporarily in these cases. Magic can never create a permanent artifact. All of our most powerful artifacts are muggle objects that have been enchanted." Dumbledore added with a twinkle in his eyes.

"I knew that." Moody added, with an inflexion of defense in his tone.

"Funny, you weren't acting like it." Snape said, his permanent sneer finally recovering.

"Enough! I think we've had enough bickering for today. Severus, continue before…."

"Albus!"

Madame Pomfrey appeared out of one of the rooms in the back, "Something's happened at Hogwarts!"

"Everything hits at a bad time doesn't it? What has happened, exactly?"

"All the students have been hit by a wave of magical energy, which has destabilized their magic. Sinistra says there are already casualties."

Everyone paled, even Snape. Dumbledore seemed almost dazed, "Quickly, get as many Healers as possible back to Hogwarts. I think we can handle any injuries that remain here. We will be coming behind."

Richard piped in, "I'll be staying behind for a few moments. I have a few things to put into order."

"That is all well, Richard. We will meet you at Hogwarts. Come Harry! We go."

* * *

><p>(Unbound)<p>

"Milord, the plan is now back on schedule. The extra…workers that you provided, proved to be more than adequate."

"I am pleased to hear it, Binding One. I hope that the next status report is as pleasing."

"I do so with pleasure, Milord. On a related note, I have discovered that some of the oils Wormtail and I are experimenting with, have a rather curious side effect when exposed to living flesh."

Voldemort tilted his head slightly, and tapped gently on his makeshift throne. "It causes the living to begin to show properties of the machine," Elberus explained, answering the unspoken question.

"These properties greatly enhance their fighting capabilities while removing all thoughts of self-preservation. The tested subjects have shown the ability to remove even giants quite easily. It is at the expense of their humanity. I, frankly, do not believe that you care too much about that."

"You assume correctly, Elberus."

"The rest of the report can be found on this clipboard right here. Yeah, it is one of those 'Muggle' things, but is really quite useful. Give sheets of paper a thought before writing five thousand words on parchment. Pencils, I've discovered, are much easier on the hands than quills as well."

"I don't think I put you in charge of clerical duty, Elberus. I'll worry about ease of use. You just fulfill your end of the bargain. Stay off tangential speeches. There is something you do not want to tell me. Out with it."

Elberus chuckled nervously, a new emotion for him, "Well, there is a slight problem. Could you, perhaps, raise the intelligence requirements for becoming a Death Eater? Wormtail's the only decently intelligent one I'm working with, and I'm stretching my imagination with him."

"I will see what I can do about kidnapping some minds for you. Any preference you have in mind?"

"Muggle if you would. They make better subjects for my experiments, and they tend to be more open to new ideas. I am tired of having to subjugate your minions when they take offense to me slightly changing what their uniform looks like."

"My subjects do have a predilection for vanity."

"As well as hubris. If I ever see another Malfoy, I will kill them all. Thus is a threat that I am not making lightly. The child is just too much. I have stood before Gods, and have never met someone so plagued by hubris."

Voldemort cringed, like he had a bad taste in his mouth. Elberus guessed that the Dark Lord did not have much of a use for the Malfoys either, save for hospitality. Sensing his welcome was gone, Elberus backed away and out of the Dark Lord's presence.

* * *

><p>(Unbound)<p>

"Aye, that's Hogwarts. I don't think they'll have a welcoming party for us."

Six figures, clad exclusively in black, began making their way toward the castle which dominated the skyline. In the far distance, the sun was beginning to rise, casting a grand shadow, making the castle seem even larger.

It did not take the men long to reach the gates of the Castle. One removed a, silver, collar like, trinket from within his robes and pressed it against the gates. The trinket flared brightly, and the gates swung open. The leader motioned to move on.

Soon, they were at the main doors to the castle. Again, the leader withdrew the collar and pressed it against the door. Again, the obstacle parted to allow entry. The castle should have been sleepy in the early morning hours, but there was fervent action this morning. It was several moments before an errant student noticed the figures in the main entrance. The leader noted that she was one of the "impure" as his master, the High Inquisitor, called them.

She looked at them daringly; there was little fear in that gaze. Before the leader could issue an order, however, she left. It was a scantly three minutes before they were confronted by the man all five knew to be Albus Dumbledore.

The silver haired Headmaster dismissed his subordinate teachers. The three present looked at the five in the entrance hall with apprehension before leaving. It was Dumbledore who spoke first.

"Are you here at the behest of Richard Abbott?" Out came the demand in the calm tones of one accustomed to surprises.

The Leader bowed his head in respect, "I correct you, Justiciar. We have been sent by High Inquisitor Randall Hinch."

Dumbledore's eyes lost their twinkle at the mentioning of the High Inquisitor. The Leader noticed this, "We know of your disapproval for the High Inquisitor. However, he requested our intervention directly."

"Directly? That is odd." Dumbledore remarked, with a slightly befuddled expression.

The leader removed his hood, revealing light grey hair, flecked with black. He had a scar that ran like a crescent moon across his face, sweeping from his left temple to his right check. His eyes were an ethereal gold, glimmering in the twilight of the hall. They twinkled much like Dumbledore's but without the comforting feeling given by their counterpart's.

"I am Inquisitor Fernando Lazlo. My master appealed to the Marshall to gain approval of our expedition to this school. He relented under the premise of an investigation into one Tom Riddle, also known as Voldemort. We are to report all we find to the High Inquisitor. Our evidence will directly determine whether the council moves to ignore, or to employ…more absolute means."

Dumbledore shook very slightly. It was almost imperceptible, but it was there. Though Inquisitor Fernando was only seventy, relatively young for his station, he knew of Dumbledore's past. He knew that Dumbledore had used the Alabaster Council's forces to defeat Grindelwald. If Voldemort was anything on Grindelwald, then Dumbledore wouldn't hesitate to use them again.

The Inquisitor was wrong. Dumbledore blanched in disgust, "Your methods have no place in this war, Inquisitor. We may be on our heels, but we are certainly capable of fighting our own battles."

"That is, quite the opposite stance than the one you used in front of the Confederation." Fernando replied, an evil smirk emerging delightfully.

"Regardless, there is no place for the Order's reprehensible methods here. Might will not make right, in this war. It is exactly what Tom wants. He would use it to turn potential allies into enemies. He will play upon their hatred for your sponsors." Dumbledore stated emphatically.

"'Our' sponsors, you mean? You are part of our order as well."

"But I am no Inquisitor, and I will not recklessly endanger those whose well being has been placed into my hands. I know your methods. I saw them in action. I refuse to let them recur."

Fernando grunted out a small laugh, "You may not have a choice, Justiciar. We need to see Abolisher Abbott."

"Richard is inside the Great Hall, helping to tend to the students who were injured by…an anomaly."

The Inquisitors began to walk towards the Great Hall, but Dumbledore held up a staying hand. He whispered, "I shall bring him to you. I hope you understand that it is imperative that no students see you."

"We've already been seen."

Dumbledore chuckled, "Ms. Granger has an unfortunate nose for trouble. I assure you she will be dealt with."

"Good. If you keep our surveillance a secret, it increases the chance that we may find something."

Dumbledore smiled slyly, "Oh I think I have exactly the task in mind for you. In fact, it would offer the perfect cover for you."

* * *

><p>(The Next Day)<p>

Harry sat at his favorite, isolated seat along the Gryffindor Table, when he noticed someone else along the staff table. He could tell he was a male, and that he was extremely unhappy to be in his present position.

Dumbledore practically skipped, or as close to skipped as he could, in to the Great Hall. He was wearing particularly brilliant, red robes, and seemed to do all of it to mock the new member of the Staff Table.

The hall was in rapt attention as the Headmaster stood in front of those who could attend the feast.

"Good Afternoon, everyone! As you know, we had a bit of a situation here over the last few days. There were relatively few casualties. Fortunately, the majority of those affected will make a full recovery," Here he stopped to allow for the sparse cheering, "However, we are not in the clear yet. Voldemort remains at large, and we have fought a tremendous battle at the same time as the incident here at the school."

Here, Harry noticed that Draco and many of the Slytherins, Daphne not included, looked away in disgust. He assumed that many of them had parents who were being abused by the Dark Lord in anger. Harry didn't feel any sympathy for them; it was their own fault.

Dumbledore continued, "Due to unforeseen circumstances, Professor Snape will be unable to resume his duties as Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. His post has been temporarily filled by Richard Abbott," Dumbledore waived his hand at Richard, who sat in nearly Snape's exact position.

Richard stood up, wearing golden robes not unlike those that Lockhart had worn. Those who noticed the similarity chuckled to themselves. Richard declared with a smile, "I can assure you, that I am not a prickly, greasy, bat like poor Severus is. I hope that you may learn from me."

Dumbledore continued, "Richard Abbott is an old friend of mine who fought at my side during the War against Grindelwald. I can vouch for his methods, however unorthodox or unconventional they maybe. He is renowned as a defensive expert."

"There you go with the defensive label again. I led the offenses just as well as the defenses, I'll have you know."

Dumbledore waived Richard's interjection off with a small shrug. He moved to the newest member of the table, "Professor Slughorn expresses his regret that he is being placed upon medical leave for the duration of this term. He is being replaced by Fernando Lazlo, a well-known Italian Potions Master who's many pupils include our own Professor Snape."

Ron Weasley moaned, "Snape is being replaced by his master? The world is ending!"

Lazlo snarled, "Silence while your elders speak, churl!"

Ron immediately shut his mouth with a gulp. Harry sighed himself. He had hoped that Lazlo wouldn't be so much like Snape. However, it was apparent that their attitudes were something Lazlo and Snape had no doubt found a common ground.

Dumbledore chuckled softly at Ron, and continued, "Now, that concludes all of our announcements. I must thank you all for returning, and let you dig in!"

Food of many kinds appeared on the plates. Harry found himself without appetite while the new Potions Professor was drilling holes into his head. Harry turned around to find the golden eyes glaring into his own emeralds. The glare was harsh. There was much anger, and that anger was not just directed at Dumbledore. Lazlo seemed angry with Harry.

Harry returned to his food, still unable to muster the hunger to truly eat, when he noticed his cousin was having similar problems to his own. She looked like she hadn't had sleep in a few days, herself. Harry reckoned that it was because of Gryffindor hazing.

Harry was jolted from his meditations by a Hufflepuff tapping his shoulder. He turned around to see Hannah Abbott as the culprit. He asked, "You need something?"

She smiled at his gruff reply, "No, I just wanted to thank you for helping my family against the Dark Lord. You and the Order did a great service to my family, and the others who had gathered. Have a nice day back at classes tomorrow, Harry."

With that, the blonde walked off. She was replaced by another blonde, as Daphne took a seat across from him. He smirked, happy to see her. She did not return the gesture, muttering, "I see you returned from your latest adventure unharmed. I wish I could say the same."

"Why? What happened to you?"

She cleared space, and slammed a book down in front of Harry. She scowled, "This book, is what happened. I _still_ haven't made it past the first page of this damned thing. I don't recognize any of the languages or what have you. It's indecipherable!"

Harry grinned, "Come now, Daphne. It can't possibly be that bad."

She glared, "I pass out every time I stare at it for more than a few minutes. Trust me, it is that bad."

"Well, Dumbledore wouldn't have you trying to translate it if it were impossible." Harry said with a shrug.

"I don't have your faith, it seems. If he really needed to have this thing translated, then why doesn't he do it himself," she flung her arms up to emphasize her frustrations. Harry slumped a few inches back with a smile.

"I can only imagine he's been too busy to do it. What do you think, Daphne?"

She didn't bother answering. The eye-roll was enough for Harry. It only took a few more minutes for Dumbledore to declare the feast over, and order the students back to their dorms. This time, he didn't send Harry a code, so Harry left with the others. He ended up near the front, behind Ron and Hermione bickering about Transfiguration homework that he'd have to make up eventually.

"Ron! If you don't start picking up your studies, then you won't have any friends! I'm tired of you acting like we don't have anything better to be doing than goofing off!"

"I know! It's just…lay off for a little, alright? Geez, it isn't like I can't do this stuff."

"You _can't._ I think that's the point."

Harry chuckled dismissively behind them, earning a dual glare. Luckily, Hermione didn't launch into him not even being there to do any of it, as she was wont to do. Instead, his cousin accosted him.

"Good evening, Harry. How was the battle?" Annalisa asked of him, while flicking a few strands of raven hair out of her eyes.

Harry ignored that she was being polite to him, "It went fine if you don't count our losses. We most of the Order members we brought with us though. The Abbotts did their fair share; I think they kept us in the fight, especially Richard. Crazy bastard, that one is. I think you will like him."

"Crazy like Dumbledore, or crazy like you? I don't think it really matters. Dumbledore said he was a master of defense. Is he?"

Harry huffed as they began to climb a stairwell, "That depends. He's odd. Not particularly powerful, but he's cunning. Sometimes, I get the feeling that he and Dumbledore make a better combo than we know."

"Well, maybe I will like him. Maybe I should have asked you what Gryffindor was like before I came to Hogwarts." Harry thought he could hear a sense of regret in her tone.

He replied, "I happened to be busy keeping Daphne from killing Draco for insulting her dead family. I think that the Pureblood Act doesn't suit you. You, at least, seem more of a human being, based on what I've seen thus far."

"Which is the scope of this conversation, isn't it? You've missed the first week of term on that mission. Prior to that, we've had only our confrontation at Longbotton's festival. To you, this must be an about face, isn't it? "

Harry shrugged, "Perhaps it is. Careful, the second step here is trapped,", he remarked, pointing at the coming staircase, "I've been hit plenty of times by that damned thing."

Annalisa choked back a laugh, "I would hope so. You could barely keep up with Greengrass at that Ball. I wouldn't be surprised if she was holding you up the whole time."

The Portrait to the Gryffindor Tower came into view. Annalisa said, "You know what, Harry? I think, that if we had met under different circumstances, we could have been friends."

Harry frowned, "I don't know about that,", and followed Ron into the Tower.

* * *

><p>(Elsewhere)<p>

"Abolisher Abbott, I am glad to meet you here."

Richard hissed at the Inquisitor in response. He made to sit down, but Fernando moved the chair away from him with a wave of his wand. He said, "We stand while we speak, Abbott. I have things that I need to know. I request your cooperation."

"I don't like you Inquisitors anymore than Dumbledore does, but I think you really are what we need. Where are the others?"

Lazlo jerked his head in a random direction, "Elsewhere. They don't matter. Answer my questions. What do you know about Voldemort?"

Richard laughed, "Is that it? I know that he used to be a fine young man named Tom Marvolo Riddle, when he was at Hogwarts. I think Slughorn would know more about what happened to change him, but when he left, he was a different man."

Lazlo slammed his fist down, "I know that already! Tell me something I don't know! Slughorn left town before we could get here."

"He probably was afraid of what you would do to him to get his information."

"Good," Fernando said with a proud sneer. Richard knew that the Inquisitors were proud of their grisly work, however unholy it might be.

"Be that as it may, we need to track him down. Curse Marshall Francesco for preventing us from using the Hounds." Lazlo growled.

Richard asked with a perked eyebrow, "You would use the Hounds on a school full of children? You know what those…those…those abominations would do to them? They would hunt them down like sheep and slaughter them! A child's mind is unpredictable! It is like a storm. Where it wanders; no one knows. You would destroy all the good will our order has built in the last sixty years!"

"Good will? I think you are thinking of a different order. The Alabaster Order doesn't have good will amongst wizards. They hate us. They believe us traitors. What are we to do, but use our greatest methods to obtain what we want?" Lazlo countered.

"Our most heinous methods, is more like it. I am like Dumbledore in mind. The Hounds are out of the question. We will not suffer their presence unless a full on Inquisition is called."

"I can see you will not be cooperative unless I assure you that I will not call upon the powers of the Inquisition. I cannot guarantee that. I can only advise Lord Hinch not to do so."

Richard leaned forward, almost into the Inquisitor's face, "Then I suggest you do so. We may be Order members, but we will not see the atrocities committed as before."

Lazlo spat back, "I dare you to try."

Richard forced the Inquistor back, and left the Dungeons.

* * *

><p>(In Italy)<p>

"So, you say, an Elberus? I've read that name before, I would swear it."

The ethereal image shimmered in the Mirror of Knowledge, "I am only telling you this because Dumbledore doesn't want knowledge of him to become common knowledge."

Randall Hinch faked a cough, "Hah, so that's why he let you unlock the Mirror of Desire's secret property. I figured it was odd for you to contact me via the Mirror, Severus Snape. Now, be gone with you! I've work to do."

"With your leave, Highest Inquisitor," Snape disappeared from the other end of the mirror.

Randall Hinch moved as quickly as his ancient bones would take him towards the Repository. He bypassed a replica of the statue of David, and entered the passage concealed nearby. Three red clad guards stood in front of a golden door, bearing the Holy Cross for an insignia in red. Complex locking systems jutted out from the door, many looking too intricate to have been made by humans.

Hinch approached, and the three guards lowered their halberds to bar his advance. He commanded, "Step aside; I approach in the name of thy Lord, for it is by His hand that I am moved. So be it that his Excellency, Lunarch Gideon commands! My name is Randall Hinch!"

The trio parted their blades, and stabbed them into the wall at three points. Hinch approached the first locking mechanism. He pulled a small, golden, amulet from within his robes. He pressed a small switch on the wall. Quickly, his withered hands maneuvered the gears of the amulet into place, and shoved it into the slit on the wall that had opened because of the switch.

He had to hurry. Sweat began to trickle down his wrinkled face as he feverishly worked the switches to open the slits to plant the relics. They were all time based. He pulled out another small piece of wood, flipped another switch, barely stuck the wood into the mechanism before the razor edged gateways severed his fingers.

Finally, he completed the first mechanism. He stood back to take a breather. He only had four more to go. The second was a different animal.

He saw the constellations engraved upon the wall, under the veil. He pulled out his white wand, lit a Lumos spell, and began tracing the constellations. Again, he was on a time limit, and the door was notoriously unforgiving of mistakes. He had to be careful, even a slight deviation would mean restarting this mechanism.

He was perfect from practice. The second part of the second mechanism would begin. Quickly, the High Inquisitor began filling in the lyrics of the Dies Irae chant. He finished, and moved to the next section. He filled in the name of City of Despair, Pandemonium. He came to the Purging Spells, and cast the spells of Light upon the Door in quick succession. Each Lumos of varying strength struck the door, and the halo upon the top of the second mechanism began to grow brighter.

He reached the third section of the second mechanism. Several gears needed greasing, and they could only be greased by one thing. He pulled a knife from within his robes, and drew it swiftly across his hand. Crimson blood bubbled forth, and Hinch used his wand to direct it upon the gears. Soon, each gear glistened with blood, and moved like a well-oiled machine. The second mechanism was complete.

` The beginning of the third mechanism was similar to the end of the second. Randall placed his bleeding hand upon the large plate that now protruded from the middle of the door. His blood flowed in rivulets over the back sloped surface and into a container behind. The plate released a flash of blue light, and his wound was healed. The plate retracted back into the wall. Now, a new puzzle appeared.

With sudden haste, he began reassembling the minute statue of David from the shattered pieces. Each piece immediately stuck to the correct pairing piece. Once you got started, this puzzle was easy. Except that, you had to do it in thirty seconds.

Hinch's hands moved faster than a man a quarter his age would have. He recognized the pattern of the scattered pieces, and knew immediately where each piece went. When they were all fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, the pieces would fly together to form a perfect, scaled down model of the statue.

Hinch finished with five seconds remaining. He doubted he would ever break the Lunarch's record of twenty seconds, even if he practiced every day. The third mechanism, no doubt the easiest, was finished.

Slowly, the first three mechanisms began to fold in on each other. They began to rise toward the ceiling, and revealed the last two locking mechanisms. Hinch wrenched his signet ring, and pressed the signet, an angel wielding a sword of fire, into the system. Locks began to churn again, and the fourth mechanism was revealed.

Hinch lit the small piece of fabric that was revealed with an Incinerate. The fire burned quickly, and filled up a large effigy of Dante's version of Hell. Hinch quickly began filling in names of famous residents in each circle. He filled such names as Cleopatra in Lust, Filippo Argenti in Anger, Epicurus in Heresy, and Ulysses in Fraud. Finally, he filled out the last rungs of Lake Cocytus with the name of Judas, and the very center with Lucifer himself.

A small light began to emerge from the center of the diagram. It rose towards the insignia upon the door, and the diagram of Hell receded. In its place, a diagram of Purgatory appeared. Again, Hinch filled out the at least one name in each rung. When he finished Purgatory, the fourth mechanism was complete.

The fifth mechanism came into place now. Three intersecting circles were at the very top of the diagram. With great confidence, Hinch filled out the ranks of Paradise, and finished the last puzzle.

The mechanisms all slid into their places. There was a cacophonous noise as the gears ground and the metal churned. The wall took ten minutes to rise high enough for Randall to slide under it. Now, the High Inquisitor was within the Repository of Knowledge.

The Order kept this great store under lock and key, as evidenced by his trials even to open the door. Knowledge was power, and the Alabaster Order hid it well. Now, Randall had to search this entire underground spire to find where he had read about an Elberus before. The name was familiar; he had heard it before. He was certain of this. But where?

He began his search on the furthest stack of books, the darkest of the secrets they kept. If Elberus was but so bad, he would find him here. Hinch sometimes wondered if he would one day find his own name in these books of the damned. He wouldn't be surprised.

But he would find this Elberus. He would find him, and he would determine the threat. He would remove the threat.

* * *

><p>AN: End of another chapter.

Apologies: I admit, I've made some mistakes in the previous chapters, largely due to my long hiatuses causing me to forget some details (like Dumbledore cutting his hand off to prevent the spread of Voldemort's corrupting curse).

The Divine Comedy: The last two mechanisms are basically just a synopsis of the Divine Comedy, symbolizing the journey from Hell to Paradise.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 7 Repository of Forbidden Knowledge

_"I have seen generations rise and fall. I have laid waste to empires. I have defied even the Darkest of darkness, and still live."_

"'Let he who can comprehend know that this place is forbidden. This Repository, this deposit of unholy knowledge; shall forever be sealed from humankind, lest he be upon the precipice of annihilation.' Had I heeded that advice every time that I have consulted these ancient archives, this world would have ended many years ago," whispered Randall Hinch in reverence.

The ancient Inquisitor walked hurriedly towards the stairs under the warning. Here was a passageway that led to the deepest, darkest, oldest knowledge that the Order possessed. Books with spines older than he, Dumbledore, and Richard put together, lined the shelves.

Randall carefully lit a torch, and placed his wand upon the pedestal in front of him. He felt the Null Zones, areas where Magic cannot exist, wash over him. They brought upon him, a swift bout of nausea that he fought to contain. It always happened, no matter how often he consulted the forbidden tomes.

He whispered as he walked into the darkened rooms, "I fear the day when the sum of these works shall be needed, and yet, I feel that such a day is not as far as we would like. Within these stacks lie the secrets of magics kept hidden for a reason. I must find where I have read the name Elberus before. I know it is here!"

Carefully placing the torch in a brazier above his reading station, Randall began to sift through the nearby books. Hinch was familiar with many of the books, often reading them in his spare time. Perhaps it was ironic, that the head of the Inquisitors would regularly consult forbidden books. But, he was certain that so long as the need was there, it would be forgotten.

Slowly, over hours, the shelves around him began to empty, and the stack of discarded books began to grow ever taller. Dust choked the air. The wrinkled Inquisitor happened upon a small, very thin book. He noted that the language of the title was one he didn't recognize. Yet, strangely, as he opened the book, the letters began to make sense.

The leaflet began to spill it's secrets, and Randall was willing to learn them. It was a key of some sort. It wasn't what he was looking for, but it was a good read. Perhaps he could put the key to good use one day?

Still, it wasn't what he was looking for. He was looking for a darker text, a book dating back to the very formation of the Church. He found it. The title read, "_The Abyssal Trinity."_

Grimly, he opened the book, written on papyrus.

(Back at Hogwarts)

"Welcome, children, to a den of debauchery. Welcome, to this den of pain, deceit, and secretive arts. Welcome, ye who would deem this arts above you, to Potions. As you know, I am Francesco Lazlo, the new Potions Master of the School. I don't know where Slughorn went, or why he left, but he will not be returning. Of this, I can assure you. Now, on the tables, you shall find textbooks provided for you."

At this point, Hermione Granger raised her inquisitive hand. Harry chuckled, but didn't say anything. Lazlo pointedly ignored her, to continue his monologue.

"I am aware that you already had textbooks for this class, but I can guarantee that they are useless. We will not be working from them. As for your, ah, what are they? NEWTs? Yes, that's it. You won't need to worry about those, either. The Potions NEWT is mostly free-form, and not dealing with structured potions making. The potions I shall be teaching you shall give you a huge edge upon your competition, so much so, that I can guarantee that even Ron Weasley will earn at least an E."

Harry and the rest noticed Ron flinch under the Professor's intimidating gaze. It wasn't a secret that Potions was Ron and Harry's worst subject, though Harry had noticeably improved under Dumbledore's tutoring. Lazlo chuckled with a sadistic smile that reminded everyone of Snape, before returning to his monologue.

"Today, we shall be learning a potion called Swallow. It's effect is rather useful, as it can be used as a substitute for regular healing potions, and it's effect lasts roughly ten minutes. However, it does bring to its user, a certain level of toxicity. The best potions brewers can bring this toxicity to a level that even a weak man can take several in a short span. The process is on page one hundred and five. You will find your ingredients in the cabinet. I am here for questions if necessary. Get to work."

"Oh," Lazlo spoke up as everyone jumped to get their ingredients, "We will be testing the potions on ourselves at the end of class. This is being done to simulate the stress of Real Life. You'll thank me one day."

Harry found himself as one of the only people able to work the ingredients, and use the textbook. The text used strange notation, such as:

"_Add three portions of Fulgur, with one portion of Rubris, and then mix with a strong alcoholic base."_

It was baffling more than a few students, though, surprisingly, Ron wasn't one of them. Hermione, on the other hand, was lost. So was Daphne, for that matter. Having a teacher who actually answered questions also made a difference for many in the class. The typical Slytherin cast, of Malfoy and his muscle, were an interesting dichotomy. Malfoy couldn't understand why his underlings were doing better than he was.

Harry snickered under his breath, ignoring the pungent fumes of the ingredient he had picked for the Rubris. The potion was a more alchemic brew than the ones most were accustomed to making. When Hermione asked about its origins, Lazlo replied, "This potion originated from Poland, the Polish specialize in making unconventional potions to enhance one's abilities."

Ron laughed rather loudly, indicating his surprise at being the first done. It had only taken him ten minutes. Harry cursed, rather angry at coming in behind his former friend. He finished five minutes later. The rest of the class finished in roughly the inverse of the normal order as well, with Ernie McMillan finishing before Draco, Daphne, and Hermione, who finished last.

After Hermione turned her potion in, Lazlo addressed the class again, "This potion is not designed to be complicated, or even to be made with specific ingredients. The wonder of the potion, and many we shall be making in our coming classes, is such: They do not require specific herbs. One need only remember that some plants are highly toxic when standing alone, and others are more so when mixed. Now, stand in line."

The class moved into a line at his request. He said with a delighted sneer, "We will be testing our potions now. We have thirty minutes left in class, which is more than enough. I have traditional healing potions with me, such as pain numbers, gash sealers, and muscle repairers, should yours not work."

Harry was slightly unnerved by Lazlo's smile as he finished the previous sentence. Lazlo drew his wand and hit Hermione with a cutting curse before she even noticed he had drawn his wand. It was a glancing blow, position on the upper shoulder, but deep enough to tear important muscles.

Pain reflexes kicked in, and Hermione quickly grabbed the potion she had finished only moments ago. In one gulp, she finished the pale blue brew. Her face immediately changed from a grimace of pain, to intense distaste. To everyone's wonder, except Harry's, the wound began to close almost immediately. But, it was clear that this was no instantaneous process. It was good five minutes before the wound closed completely.

Lazlo, again with his almost evil smile, turned to the class, "Now, you probably noticed that the potion took awhile to heal the wound. Had a professional made this potion, it would have taken no more than a minute. I expect no one to take less than three. Luckily, there are so few students; we should make it through everyone before class ends."

Daphne fared no better than Hermione, and Draco's was only marginally better. Ron's potion took only three minutes, and Harry's took just under three. It was a Ravenclaw who had done the best; her potion had finished its work in about two minutes and thirty seconds.

Just as class was ending, Lazlo held Harry back. He said, "I suppose we haven't had time to properly speak, since I arrived here at Hogwarts. Since you are Dumbledore's Chosen One, as the Brits are saying, you should have known of my arrival. Did you? "

Harry nodded, recalling that Dumbledore had told him not to speak of Lazlo's actual profession around the other students. Lazlo said with his smile, "The Inquisition has sent myself, and four others, to inquire on the whereabouts of one Tom Marvolo Riddle. We are to determine if he is enough of a threat to warrant a full on Inquisition. I feel you should know this, being the one supposedly chosen to defeat him."

"I suppose being Dumbledore's understudy only marginally impacted your decision to speak with me?"

"It factored in, certainly. But, now is not the time for me to explain his history with my order. Move along to your next class. Tell Abbott that Lazlo says that he's found the whale."

Harry nodded, and left the dungeons. He figured that Lazlo was referring to Slughorn, given the ex-Potions Professor's rather high weight. Harry wondered briefly if Slughorn was still alive after dealing with the other Inquisitors. A passing Ravenclaw bumping into his bag, spilling some ink, interrupted his thoughts.

Harry largely ignored her passing apology and clean up spell, earning himself a discerning look. His mind wandered to the word Elberus. His skin crawled with its mentioning. A knot of fear bubbled within him at it. He couldn't tell why. It was worse than Voldemort.

He was shaken from his stupor again, by entering the new Defense classroom, now on the Second Floor. Richard had said his back kept him from climbing long flights of stairs. Richard was in the middle of a lecture, something about a full body defensive shield, when Harry entered.

He sat down with little fanfare, despite a few glares from some of the other students. Richard chuckled, "Fashionably late, eh, Mr. Potter? I suppose Lazlo has some excuse doesn't he?"

Harry said, "Lazlo says he found the whale."

The paling of Richard's face spoke volumes, "Already? Well now, that's interesting. Anyway, back to business. The Qun Shield, meaning the _Implacable_ Shield, is an excellent defense against all but the most lethal spells. I've found it to be an adequate replacement for the antiquated, overused, and quite predictable, Protego Spell. I want you all to stand up, and give it a try. Like the name, the incantation is _Qun._"

Harry whipped out his wand, and said the incantation. A small, faint, purple bubble engulfed his body. Richard cast a red spell at his shield, and the spell broke through. The sting made him hiss.

Richard said, with a smile, "That's was decent, but it won't keep you alive. Even for a first try, that was rather sub-par. Concentrate harder, and you should succeed." He turned to the other side of the room, " Ron! That was a good one, but like I just told Harry, it won't keep you alive! Work harder!"

Harry overheard Ron complain, "He wonders why more people don't use this spell? This thing is bloody hard as hell!"

Harry ignored Hermione's chastisement. He still found it interesting that Ron was doing better in his subjects now. Harry returned to his work. By the end of class, his shield was a much more solid purple than before. His smile disappeared when he arrived at McGonagall's classroom, and was met by the elder witch's discerning scowl. This wouldn't be nearly as fun.

After the hell that was Transfiguration, he was lounging in the Common room. He had found his favorite chair, which he hadn't sat in all year thus far. He soon found himself dozing, and with that dozing, he entered a dream.

He was inside of an elegant throne room. In fact, he sat upon the throne inside of said throne room. The green of the room was distracting, almost nauseating, yet, it was also thrilling. It was pleasing to the eyes.

Kneeling at the bottom of a small flight of stairs, was the strangest man that Harry had ever seen. Long, shoulder length, greasier than Snape's, black hair, dangled in scraggily knots around his face. Oil smudges dotted his sullen face. His eyes were rays of green light in the darkness. Light, graying stubble stuck up like mountains, blacking the paleness of his skin. Intimidating as his appearance was, Harry felt happy-almost relieved- to see him.

His voice was a raspy, like dried parchment, "I've finally created a weapon for us to use. I can take you to show it."

"I would be thrilled to see this." Harry heard himself say. He got up from the throne with a groan. The familiar sensation of Apparating assailed him. He arrived outside of a large Manor that he recognized as the one from when Voldemort had been reborn.

That's when it hit him. He was inside of Voldemort's head again! But, hadn't both Dumbledore and Voldemort himself said he wouldn't be able to do that again? Wasn't Voldemort specifically repelling him with Occlumency?

He entered the manor. The inside was nothing like the last time he had been here. Slick, black oils lined nearly every surface. He thought he recognized car parts. There was a massive vat made entirely of marble in the background. There was a network of catwalks crossing over the roof. Voldemort, or whoever was guiding him, had had the Manor turned into a large workshop of some sorts, while keeping the exterior largely the same.

They made their way over the vat via catwalk. Harry looked down, and the vat was filled entirely with the same sickly oil in the foyer. Harry looked around himself. He felt even Voldemort's disgust at some of the corpses lining the walls. Many featured mechanical disfigurations.

It was now, that Harry/Voldemort noticed the guide was carrying a strange scepter in his only hand. It was solid black, with almost demonic designs pulsing in red along the edges. It had an evil aura.

Finally, they entered a room with an even larger marble vat. Harry asked, "Is this the weapon?"

"No, but it will create the weapon. It is the spark of our destiny, the harbinger of our fate."

Voldemort/Harry shouted, "I cannot use oil on the battlefield! If this is the best you can do, Elberus the Binding One, then you are wasting my time. My time is precious, and people die when they waste it."

With that, Voldemort/Harry turned to leave. But, they both heard Elberus say with venom, "Creation is an art that cannot be rushed."

Harry then felt himself being pushed out. He tried to cling, but the blast refused to allow him to stay. A painful sensation struck his scar. It immediately intensified.

Yelling loudly, Harry woke up. Dean Thomas was looking at him with a worried look. Harry was soaking wet. Neville chuckled nervously, "I had to try something."

Harry laughed it off, "It's fine. Just a bad dream I suppose."

A/N (Not so important): Yeah, I know this seems kind of rushed, but it's all I got right now.


End file.
